A private equity firm has been allegedly been accused of cheating a group of investors out of millions by selling heavily discounted shares to the siblings of its founder and ex-Goldman Sachs banker.
A fund managed by private equity firm Primavera Capital Group has been spotlighted over allegedly selling their stake in fintech giant Ant Group at a heavily discounted price to the siblings of its founder and chairman, Fred Hu Zuliu, according to a «Caxin» report (paywall) citing a Chinese social media post.
The post states that an investor within the fund owns a 0.1 percent stake in Ant.
Hu was previously a major heavyweight with Goldman Sachs where he served as its chairman of Greater Chairman. He currently also holds various strategic and advisory positions with the mainland government, the Hong Kong government, the Securities and Futures Commission and other institutions.
Familial Arbitrage?
The move to sell to siblings reportedly sparked debate about the implications of offloading individual investors' financial interests for personal gain.
An exchange filing last week noted that «close relatives» of Hu held a stake of no more than 1 percent in Ant.
Ant Group is seeking a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai’s tech board STAR with a reported fundraising target of $30 billion which would make it this year’s largest IPO. Those with reported interest include state investors Temasek and GIC of Singapore and PIF of Saudi Arabia.
