Boss of Jewel developer cuts ties in GC project
THE chairman of Jewel developer Yuhu Group has quietly sold his stake in its $3.2 billion Gold Coast and Sydney projects, three months after his billionaire father was exiled from Australia.
Jiquan “Jimmy” Huang stepped in as chairman of Yuhu Group in February after the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation flagged possible national security concerns over his father Xiangmo Huang. The tycoon’s permanent residency visa was revoked and his citizenship bid rejected.
Company records show Jimmy Huang ceased directorship of Yuhu (Gold Coast) Development, the company which owns Jewel, and Yuhu Sydney One, owner of its $2 billion Circular Quay development, on May 15.
Through a complex structure, both projects are ultimately owned by AWH Investment Group, which itself was previously owned by Jimmy Huang’s company Cloudstone Capital.
However, Cloudstone Capital no longer owns AWH Investment, which is now majority held by 32-year-old China-born Sydneysider Bo Zhang.
Other shareholders of AWH include Jieqiong Wang, who has an address in Shenzen, China, and Weimin Wang, 39, who has addresses in New Zealand’s Highland Park and Auckland.
Haozheng Wu, whose registered address is a $5.2 million mansion on Surfers Paradise’s Admiralty Dr, is listed as a director of AWH Investment.
Jimmy Huang remains a director of asset management company Yuhu Group (Australia), which does not appear to directly own any property.
A spokeswoman for Yuhu said there had been no change to the group’s corpor- ate structure.
“Yuhu’s presence on the Gold Coast and the commitment from our management team including Jimmy himself remain unchanged, which will ensure the delivery of the beautiful and beloved Jewel to the city of Gold Coast as our priority after the practical completion earlier this month of another of our development projects in Sydney, the Miller North Sydney, to be settled in the coming months,” she said via email. The representative did not answer more specific questions about the registered changes in ownership, because they involved “personal information of the private non-executive directors and shareholders”.
The change in structure comes after the Bulletin reported Jewel would not be completed for another 12 months, despite being flagged for a “mid-2019” completion.
Luxury group Langham Hotels is understood to have signed on to run the 169room, five-star hotel in the beachfront landmark, which is undergoing an internal fit-out.
The corporate reshuffle does not mean Jimmy Huang is without Australian assets. He remains sole shareholder of Mandarin International Investments, which paid $59 million for a North Sydney office building in 2015, and remains a director and shareholder of several other companies which own property throughout Australia, including a $380 million site in North Strathfield and an $81 million building in Pymble.