State-controlled asset manager Huarong, one of four such companies set up by Beijing to help institutions process bad debt, is offering investors new share certificates without the signature of disgraced former boss Lai Xiaomin after his arrest on corruption charges.
The new certificates will bear the name and signature of Huarong’s new chairman, Wang Zhenfeng, according to the Financial Times. The company said that the exchange is free for all shareholders until Christmas Eve, after which there will be a HK$2.5 replacement cost.
Huarong, which currently oversees $270 billion in assets, has made other attempts to dissociate itself from Lai. In April, Huarong offices in Hong Kong took down all posters of the chairman and removed any book with his image on the cover.
Prior to the arrest, Lai was expelled from the Communist Party amid accusations of accepting bribes and “blindly” steering Huarong away from its core function of defusing bad debt.
Reports earlier this year also claimed that authorities had unearthed three tonnes of embezzled cash at one of Lai’s residences.
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