Red Chips Rising

Mark S.L. Chen has big plans. For decades his company has had a near-monopoly exporting pigs, goats, beef, and other foodstuffs from China to Hong Kong. Now, as China reforms its economy, Chen will lose his privileged trading position. His response to all of this? Go on a diversification binge that would make even the most daring empire builder take notice.

Chen, who is chairman of Ng Fung Hong Ltd., a former Chinese government company, is angling to buy one of China's largest wineries, and he just hooked an African fishing fleet owned by China's Agriculture Ministry. He rang up the purchase of one of China's largest supermarket chains last December and is considering expanding it. Now, he's talking with foreign partners about getting into specialty meat products. "The long-term goal is for Ng Fung Hong to become an international food empire," says Chen, a former official at China's Ministry of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), his company's onetime parent.