Tycoons Behind China Surveillance Giant Get Richer on EV Listing
China’s Leapmotor is raising $772 million in a Hong Kong IPO, pushing the fortunes of its founders to $2.8 billion and $1 billion.
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Fu Liquan and Zhu Jiangming made their fortunes with a video-surveillance firm the US blacklisted for human rights abuses. Now they’re getting even richer with the listing of their latest venture: an electric-car startup deeply intertwined with their first business.
After their Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. became one of the biggest beneficiaries of China’s push to keep tabs on the country’s 1.4 billion people, Fu and Zhu entered the market for electric vehicles, starting Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co. in 2015. The EV firm owns 20% of a Dahua subsidiary that produces sensors for its cars.