Evergrande eyes 4.68% stake in China Vanke

Hong Kong/Shanghai

THE decision by billionaire Hui Ka Yan's China Evergrande Group to take a 4.68 per cent stake in China Vanke Co introduces a new twist to the eight-month-long battle for control of China's largest residential property developer.

Politically well connected, deep-pocketed and known for an aggressive business style, Evergrande's chairman Mr Hui may have both strategic as well as economic reasons for injecting himself into the Evergrande saga, where Vanke's management is trying to fend off a hostile approach for control by its largest shareholder Baoneng Group.