2015年04月29日
寻找万达帝国背后的神秘股东
傅才德
从北京工人体育场附近一座破旧楼房的黑暗楼道上到六层，有一扇贴满了通知的大门。其中一则通知要求房主支付两年的垃圾收集费。另一则来自自来水公司，称因家中无人，工作人员不能进公寓读水表。
这个公寓是杨欣的合法住所。现年33岁的杨欣是中国最富有的女人之一，持有大连万达商业地产（简称万达商业）逾6亿美元（约合37亿元人民币）的股份，万达商业是王健林的万达集团下属的商业地产公司。
根据报给政府的企业记录，杨欣是拥有大量万达股份的几位中国最高层领导人的亲属及其商业伙伴之一。时报用了一年的时间查阅报给政府的企业记录，以搞清楚王健林是怎样成为亚洲首富的，他拥有的财富据估算超过350亿美元。
但是，确定王健林房地产和娱乐帝国的投资者的身份是一项复杂的工作，包括确定杨欣的身份。尽管中国政府近年来在公开公司记录上已经有所改进，但股东往往通过控股公司来层层掩盖他们的投资。而且，即使名字被公开，在没有更多确认信息时，名字本身可能也没有任何意义。
杨欣在2008年得到了万达的股份，那时她刚过26岁生日没几周，她的名字被列入大连万达上报给工商总局的股东名单中。但她的名字很常见，男性和女性都能用。中国大约有4270万杨姓人氏，比美国加利福利亚州的人口还要多。
记者在她的老家河北唐山石各庄找到了一位她的亲戚，这时她与一名中共高级官员的关系才变得明晰。皮肤黝黑、饱经沧桑的王兆安是该村的党委书记，他说，杨欣是自己堂兄弟王兆国的外甥女，王兆国在2003至2013年间曾担任中共中央政治局委员和全国人大常委会副委员长。
没能联系到杨欣对此事发表评论。王家在北京市中心的住宅曾是一座18世纪的王府，前往采访的记者被拒之门外。
另一位投资者的文件线索把记者带到北京东部的一个老式公寓楼群。63岁的潘永斌家住12层，家门外有一堆塑料的空油瓶子，一年多前的一个下午，他穿着汗衫和睡裤从房门里走了出来。
潘永斌被列为北京一家公司的唯一股东，该公司于2007年向大连合兴投资了约16万美元，王健林用大连合兴作为自己企业的主要持股公司。这笔投资后来转化为万达房地产子公司的股份，截至周一，市值已超过2.5亿美元。
潘永斌指着自己的左腿说他在家病休。他承认拥有股份，但拒绝透露详情。他说，"现在说话不方便，我的健康状况很不好。我不能回答你的问题。"
他的公司提交给政府以及在线数据库的记录都对公众开放，记录显示，公司地址在北京市中心标志性的、巧克力色的中信国际大厦的顶层。乘电梯上去，就进了北京昭德投资有限公司的大理石铺地的大堂，公司董事长李伯潭是原中共中央政治局常委贾庆林的女婿。
潘永斌是昭德董事会的成员，也是李伯潭其它几家公司的高级管理人员。李伯潭没有回复采访请求，也未回答发到他办公室的书面问题。
一些公司记录中包括股东的身份证复印件。但一位名叫金怡的万达神秘股东的身份证上写的地址不完整。
现年50岁的金怡是2009年有机会获得万达股份的为数不多的投资者之一。那些股份如今的市值已超过2.5亿美元。
她的身份证上是一张留着齐肩烫发、穿着高领上衣的年轻女子的照片，证上提供的地址在柳林，中国北方省份山西的一个煤矿小镇。但没有街道名称，只给了社区名。在当地政府部门记载有约4000个名字的厚厚四本正式户口登记簿中，没有找到一位姓金的人。
但是，通过一次记录检索可以找到另一家公司，股东之一也叫金怡，使用同一个18位数的身份证号码。
那是北京的一家房地产公司，只有另外两名股东。一位叫段伟红，她是有名的女商人，她的公司泰鸿集团是中国前总理温家宝的母亲及其他亲属用来持有一家保险公司股份的投资工具。
另一名股东在公司记录中用的名字是常丽丽(Lily Chang)，这是温家宝女儿温如春用过的别名。
未能联系到温如春对此事发表评论，发到其公司办公室的留言和采访要求没有得到答复。
段伟红对采访请求未作答复。与她的丈夫沈栋(Desmond Shum)接通电话后，他称对谈话"没有兴趣"。"不要再给我打电话了，"他说。
傅才德(Michael Forsythe)是《纽约时报》记者。
安思乔(Jonathan Ansfield)对本文有报道贡献，Kiki Zhao对本文有研究贡献。
翻译：Cindy Hao
April 29, 2015
Who Owns Shares in Wang Jianlin's Empire? Names Are Just a Start
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE
Up a dark stairwell on the sixth floor of a decrepit building near the Workers' Stadium in Beijing is a door covered with notices. One demands payment for two years of garbage collection fees. Another from the water company says a worker could not enter the apartment to check the meter because no one was home.
This is the legal residence of one of the richest women in China: Yang Xin, 33, the owner of more than $600 million in shares of Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, the real estate division of Wang Jianlin's Wanda Group.
Ms. Yang is one of several relatives of top Chinese leaders and their business associates who own significant stakes in Wanda, according to corporate records filed with the government that were reviewed in a yearlong examination of how Mr. Wang became the richest man in Asia, with an estimated fortune of more than $35 billion.
But identifying Ms. Yang and other investors in Mr. Wang's real estate and entertainment empire was a complicated task. While the Chinese government has improved access to business records in recent years, shareholders often cloak their investments through layers of holding companies. And even when a name is disclosed, it can be meaningless without additional identifying information.
Ms. Yang, who acquired the stake in Wanda a few weeks after her 26th birthday in 2008, was included on a list of shareholders in documents filed by Dalian Wanda with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. But her name is a common one, used by both men and women. There are about 42.7 million people in China with the surname Yang, more than the population of California.
It was only after locating a relative in her home village of Shigezhuang in the northern province of Hebei that her relationship with a senior Communist Party official became clear. She is the niece of Wang Zhaoguo, a member of the ruling Politburo and the vice chairman of the Chinese legislature from 2003 to 2013, according to Wang Zhao'an, a tanned and weathered cousin of the Chinese leader who serves as the village's party chief.
Ms. Yang could not be located for comment, and a reporter who visited the Wang family's home, in an 18th-century prince's residence in central Beijing, was turned away.
The paper trail for another investor led to an aging apartment block in eastern Beijing. A pile of empty, plastic cooking-oil bottles sat outside the 12th-floor home of Pan Yongbin, 63, who emerged one afternoon more than a year ago in an undershirt and pajama bottoms.
Mr. Pan was listed as sole owner of a Beijing firm that in 2007 invested about $160,000 in Dalian Hexing Investment, the main company that Wang Jianlin uses to hold shares in his businesses. That investment, which was later converted into a stake in Wanda's real estate subsidiary, was worth more than $250 million as of Monday.
Gesturing toward his left leg, Mr. Pan said he was home from work on sick leave. He acknowledged ownership of the shares but declined to elaborate. "It's not good for me to talk right now, my health is very bad," he said. "I can't answer your questions."
His firm's records, both filed with the government and in online databases open to the public, show his business address to be on the top floor of the iconic, chocolate-colored Citic International building in downtown Beijing. The elevator opens into the marbled lobby of Beijing Zhaode Investment, whose chairman is Li Botan, the son-in-law of the former Politburo Standing Committee member Jia Qinglin.
Mr. Pan sits on Zhaode's board and is an officer in several of Mr. Li's other companies. Mr. Li did not respond to interview requests or written questions sent to his office.
Some corporate records include copies of the identification cards of shareholders. But the address listed on the card for a mysterious Wanda shareholder named Jin Yi was incomplete.
Ms. Jin, 50, was among a limited number of investors who were given the chance to acquire a stake in Wanda in 2009. Those shares are now worth more than $250 million.
Her identification card, which included a photo of a young woman with wavy, shoulder-length hair wearing a high-collared blouse, provides an address in Liulin, a coal-mining town in China's northern Shanxi Province. But no street name is listed, only a neighborhood. And no one with the surname Jin could be found in the official registry of residents in the neighborhood — four thick binders in a local government office with some 4,000 names.
But a record search uncovered another company with a shareholder named Jin Yi using the same 18-digit identification number.
That firm, a Beijing real estate company, had only two other shareholders. One is Duan Weihong, a prominent businesswoman whose company, Taihong, was the investment vehicle for shares in an insurance company held by the mother and other relatives of former Premier Wen Jiabao.
The other shareholder is identified in company records as Lily Chang, the alias used by Mr. Wen's daughter, Wen Ruchun.
Ms. Wen could not be reached for comment, and messages and interview requests submitted at the company's offices went unanswered.
Ms. Duan did not respond to interview requests. Reached by telephone, her husband, Desmond Shum, said he had "no interest" in talking. "Do not call me again," he said.
Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting and Kiki Zhao contributed research.
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