Yang is the chairman of Country Garden Holdings, a Chinese real estate developer that builds properties and manages hotels throughout the country. Yang's father co-founded Country Garden in 1992 and transferred his stake in the company to her in 2005. The Foshan-based business had revenue of 523 billion yuan ($81 billion) in 2021.
The majority of Yang's wealth is derived from a 53% stake in real estate developer Country Garden Holdings, according to a December 2022 Hong Kong stock exchange filing.
The Foshan, China-based business is located in Guangdong province and trades publicly in Hong Kong. She owns her stake in the company, which was co-founded by her father in 1992, through a holding company, according to the filing.
Country Garden Holdings spun-off its property management unit on June 19, 2018, and it trades on the Hong Kong stock exchange under the name Country Garden Services Holdings Company. She owns 1.2 billion shares through the same holding company, according to a Dec. 11, 2022 regulatory filing.
The value of her cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes, market performance and charitable giving. Yang provided a HK$5.1 billion interest-free and unsecured loan to Country Garden with an initial term of three years and one month, according to a company filing dated Dec. 27, 2022. The value of the loan has been deducted from her cash balance.
Karen Tse, a spokeswoman at Country Garden's external public relations agency IPR Ogilvy, declined to comment on Yang's wealth.
Yang Huiyan was born in 1981, in Shunde, in China's Guangdong province. She was five years old when her father, Yang Guoqiang, started working as a general manager of a local construction company. At the time, China was in the middle of a massive urbanization boom sparked by economic reforms introduced in 1978 that boosted incomes and demand for apartments.
Buoyed by the rising fortunes of the world's most populous country, Yang Guoqiang, who's usually known by his Cantonese name Yeung Kwok Keung, co-founded Country Garden Holdings in 1992. The company's activities include developing and managing residential properties and running hotels in dozens of cities across China. Yang Huiyan grew up with the company, attending her father's board meetings since she was a teenager.
Yang's father transferred a controlling stake in Country Garden to her in 2005, after she joined the company as his personal assistant to learn the ropes and eventually succeed him. Yang became China's richest woman at age 25, after Country Garden raised $1.65 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering in April 2007.
Yang was appointed co-chairman of the company alongside her father in 2018. In 2023, she took over as the sole chairman after her father resigned citing his age.
Yang's younger sister, Ziying, is also an executive director of Country Garden.