China metal tycoon who built two empires faces Xi's new era

Shanghai

ZHANG Shiping may have won an epic victory against short-sellers, but the self-made billionaire faces a much more formidable player in the battle surrounding the world's biggest aluminium producer: China's President Xi Jinping.

China Hongqiao Group Ltd resumed trading in Hong Kong on Monday, ending a seven-month hiatus during which Mr Zhang contested a research report that questioned his group's famously low costs. The aluminium giant's shares jumped 32 per cent in a day, clawing back ground lost to industry peers that have benefited from rising metal prices. Among the buyers was Mr Zhang himself.

Much has changed in China during those seven months. Mr Xi's campaign to rein in businesses that boomed after the market reforms of the 1980s has revived the power and influence of the state in the economy…