(Bloomberg) -- China Evergrande Group has blown past China Vanke Co. as the nation's biggest builder by market value after a profit alert sent its shares soaring.
For billionaire Hui Ka Yan, the firm's controlling shareholder, a 36 percent gain in share price in just four days last week meant his fortune swelled by an average of $2.4 billion a day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. On Monday, Evergrande was valued at about HK$352 billion ($44.8 billion) versus around HK$288 billion for Vanke.
The pair have been dueling for pole position. Vanke soared early in 2018 on optimism about the outlook for Chinese developers, but has fallen hard as financing constraints, a government crackdown on property speculation, and the blow to sentiment from a U.S. tariff war drag the industry down.
Evergrande's surge last week was triggered by an announcement that first-half profit likely more than doubled. Even so, the company hasn't managed to shake off the short-sellers. On Monday, both developers closed lower. Evergrande, known for a quintupling of its share price last year, has fallen about 1 percent this year, while Vanke has tumbled 22 percent.
Read about another windfall looming for billionaire Hui
--With assistance from Pei Yi Mak.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Panckhurst in Hong Kong at ppanckhurst@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Katrina Nicholas at knicholas2@bloomberg.net, Paul Panckhurst
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