Fosun International Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. Founded in 1992 by Guo Guangchang and four others, the company is headquartered in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

and was incorporated in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in 2004. Its Co-CEOs are Chen Qiyu and Xu Xiaoliang. Wang Qunbin joined Guo Guangchang as co-chairman in early 2020. The company is located in 16 countries and is one of the largest privately owned conglomerates in China. It was ranked 371st on the Forbes Global 2000 ranking in 2020.

History

1990s

Fosun Group was founded in 1992 as the Guangxin Technology Development Company by five graduates of

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

in Shanghai: Guo Guangchang,

Liang Xinjun Liang Xinjun () is a Chinese entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and former vice chairman/CEO of Fosun International, one of the largest civilian-run enterprise in China. Biography Liang was born in 1968 in Taizhou, Zhejiang. He received his B. ...

, Wang Qunbin (), Fan Wei (), and Tan Jian (). Fosun started its business by doing market research. The major holding company of the group, Fosun High Technology, was incorporated in 1994 in mainland China. Then Fosun extended its business into the healthcare industry (as Fosun Pharmaceutical), real estate, and steel etc.

2000s

In 2004, a new holding company of the group, Fosun International Limited was incorporated in Hong Kong. In July 2007, Fosun International was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong as SEHK:656.

2010s

During 2011, the three major growth engines of Fosun, industrial profits, investment profits and asset management profits rose rapidly, enabling Fosun to make strides toward its vision of becoming "a premium investment group with a focus on China's growth momentum". From 2010 through 2015, Fosun spent billions buying foreign firms in the healthcare, tourism, fashion, and banking industries in the US and Europe. These included France's

Club Med Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily o ...

, Britain's Thomas Cook Group, Canada's

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

, American clothing label St John, and Greek jeweler

Folli Follie Folli Follie is a Greek-based international company which designs, manufactures and distributes luxury jewellery, watches and fashion accessories. History The company was established in 1982 in Greece by Dimitris Koutsolioutsos ( el, Δημήτ ...

. At the end of 2014 Fosun acquired the US insurer Meadowbrook for around $433 million, marking the first full purchase of a US insurer by a Chinese company. Fosun also purchased Australian oil company Roc Oil, its first acquisition in the petroleum industry. On 11 December 2015, the chairman of Fosun, Guo Guangchang, was reported missing. Guo however reappeared on 14 December 2015 at a Fosun board of directors meeting. During his disappearance, Fosun requested that trading of shares be temporarily suspended. The Fosun board of directors issued a statement saying that Guo was assisting in a government inquiry which, in their opinion, did not present a “material adverse impact” on Fosun's finances or operations. On 21 July 2016, it was confirmed that Fosun had bought the English football club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

from its previous owner Steve Morgan for an estimated £45 million. Under Fosun's ownership, Wolves have progressed from being a mid table side in the Football League Championship (second tier of English football) to finishing seventh in the FA Premier League, reaching an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final and qualifying for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. In 2016 Fosun began to invest in India. “

Delhivery Delhivery is an Indian logistics and supply chain company, based in Gurugram. It was founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Bhavesh Manglani, Suraj Saharan, and Kapil Bharati. The company has over 85 fulfillment centers, 24 automated so ...

” was one such investment made in 2017, in addition to previous investments in MakeMyTrip, India's largest online travel company and Gland Pharma. Fosun is also involved in the Indian real estate market. On 28 August 2019, Thomas Cook Group announced that the group "had agreed the main terms of a rescue package that will see Hong Kong’s Fosun Tourism take over its tour operations and creditor banks and bondholders acquire its airline" In early November 2019, Fosun said it would purchase the Thomas Cook brand for £11m. The company viewed itself as a "potential saviour" by purchasing the name.

2020s

In March 2020, the company acquired a 55.4% equity interest in French jewelry brand Djula. They also signed an agreement in July 2020 with a high-end Italian jewelry group to develop the Damiani and Salvini brands in China. In August 2020 the company bought a 30% stake in Jinhui Liquor for $262 million.

Response to COVID-19 pandemic

During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Fosun Pharmaceuticals partnered with German biotech firm Biopharmaceutical New Technologies (

BioNTech BioNTech SE ( ; or short for Biopharmaceutical New Technologies) is a German biotechnology company based in Mainz that develops and manufactures active immunotherapies for patient-specific approaches to the treatment of diseases. It develop ...

) to produce and distribute the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

mRNA vaccine An mRNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a copy of a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce an immune response. The vaccine delivers molecules of antigen-encoding mRNA into immune cells, which use the designed mRNA as a blueprin ...

BNT162b2. Once approved, Fosun will market the vaccine in China, and BioNTech will retain the rights to sell it internationally. Fosun was part of an alliance of Chinese companies that donated medical supplies to 23 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, Fosun brought medical supplies to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, including 5,500 protective suits and 40,000 N95 respirator masks together with the Longfor Group and Beijing Taikiang Yicai Foundation. This donation was in addition to 5,000 masks that had been donated to Milan's municipal government earlier by Fosun. Fosun launched the Global anti-Virus Relief Scheme which created a forum for China, the US, the UK, and Portugal to share information and experience about COVID-19 in early March 2020. Several companies have also joined the effort, including

Baidu Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the l ...

New Oriental New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (, , ), more commonly New Oriental (), is a provider of private educational services in China. The headquarters of New Oriental is located in Haidian District, Beijing. It is currently the largest co ...

Xiaomi Corporation (; ), commonly known as Xiaomi and registered as Xiaomi Inc., is a Chinese designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and related software, home appliances, and household items. Behind Samsung, it is the second largest m ...

and Sequoia Capital. Fosun has distributed close to 4 million units of medical supplies around the world, including surgical masks, protective suits, and diagnostic reagents. Fosun donated medical protection supplies to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

in two shipments in March, 36,000 early in the month and additional 22,000 later in the month. The company also donated supplies to the UK, Japan and India. At the end of March 2020, the Chinese National Medical Products Administration gave Fosun Pharmaceutical emergency approval for the use of a novel coronavirus nucleic acid detection kit that it developed. Fosun, Haitong Securities, and the Portuguese football agency

Gestifute Gestão de Carreiras de Profissionais Desportivos, S.A., known as GestiFute, is a Portuguese company providing agent services for footballers. Unlike other football associations, Portugal allowed other parties to own part of the economic rights o ...

brought 461 kilos representing 58,400 units of medical supplies to

’s sister city in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

at the end of March 2020. Fosun delivered medical supplies in several shipments during March 2020 to the city of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, UK, the home of the Wolves football team, which is owned by Fosun. The company donated N95 masks to New York's

NYU Langone Medical Center NYU Langone Health is an academic medical center located in New York City, New York, United States. The health system consists of NYU Grossman School of Medicine and NYU Long Island School of Medicine, both part of New York University (NYU), and ...

and Mount Sinai Hospital as well as similar donations to hospitals in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and elsewhere in the United States. The Coalition of Asian-American IPA (CAIPA) accepted 7,000 N95 masks from Fosun, and then distributed them to hospitals throughout the New York area during March 2020.

Business structure

Fosun has a wide array of business activities, including investing in other firms, managing a number of private equity funds, and entering

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

Equity investments

Fosun has invested in a number of businesses throughout different sectors, such as asset management, insurance, and industrial operations.

Asset management

*IDERA (98.00%) *China Financial Services Holdings (, 4.9%) * Fosun Eurasia Capital (in Russia) * Hauck & Aufhäuser (99.91%) *Resolution Property (in UK) *Rio Bravo Investmentos (in Brazil)

Banking

Banco Comercial Português Portuguese Commercial Bank ( pt, Banco Comercial Português, BCP) is a Portuguese bank that was founded in 1985 and is the largest private bank in the country. BCP is a member of the Euronext 100 stock index and its current chief executive offic ...

(27.06%) * China Minsheng Bank (2.22%) *

Mybank EBA Clearing is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure wholly owned by shareholders that consist of major European banks. It owns and operates major payment infrastructure in Europe for Euro payments between banks. This includes EURO1 ...

(25.00%)

Entertainment

(25% via private equity funds managed by Fosun International and associated company Yuyuan Tourist Mart) * Studio 8 (60%) *

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Fashion

Formerly named ''Fosun Fashion'', the fashion sector of Fosun's business is now named ''Lanvin Group''. *

Ahava Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, Limited ( he, אהבה, ''Love'') is an Israeli cosmetics company with headquarters in Lod that manufactures skin care products made of mud and mineral-based compounds from the Dead Sea. The company has flagship ...

(99.46%) * Caruso (73.90%) *

(10%, additional 3.89% stake held by Pramerica-Fosun China Opportunity Fund) * Lanvin * Silver Cross (87.23%) *

Sergio Rossi Sergio Rossi is an Italian fashion brand which focuses on footwear. Founded in Italy in 1951, the brand was acquired by the Gucci Group in 1999. It then became part of the Kering Group under François Pinault, from 2005 until 2016, when Inve ...

* St John (70.00%) * Tom Tailor (28.89%) *

Wolford Wolford, headquartered in Bregenz on Lake Constance in Austria, is a textile manufacturer of tights, bodysuits and underwear, as well as women's clothing and accessories. Wolford has 16 subsidiaries and markets its products in approx. 60 cou ...

Food and drink

* Jinhui Liquor * Sanyuan Foods (20.45%) * St Hubert (98.12%) *

Tsingtao Brewery Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. () is China's second largest brewery, with about 15% of domestic market share and also accounts for half of China’s national beer exports. It was founded in 1903 by German settlers in Tsingtau (Qingdao), Kiautschou Ba ...

(17.99%)

Industrial operations

Cainiao Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Limited (), formerly known as China Smart Logistics Network, is a Chinese logistics company launched by Alibaba Group, jointly with eight other companies, on 28 May 2013. As of May 2018, Cainiao was one of the la ...

(6.77%) *

(6.5%) * Fosun Pharmaceutical (37.94%) *

Gland Pharma In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (Endocrine system, endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland ...

(57.86%) * Hainan Mining (51.57%) * Fosun High Technology (100%) * Roc Oil (100%) * Sinopharm Group * Sisram Medical * Zhaojin Mining (3.57%)

Insurance

Ameritrust Group KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...

(100%) *

Fidelidade Fidelidade is a Portugal, Portuguese insurance company that was established in the early 19th century and is headquartered in Lisbon. It is a subsidiary of Fosun International. Portuguese leader in the domestic market, the company focuses on provid ...

(84.99%) *

Fosun United Health Insurance Fosun International Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company. Founded in 1992 by Guo Guangchang and four others, the company is headquartered in Shanghai and was incorporated in Hong Kong in 2004. Its Co-CEOs are Chen Q ...

(20.00%) *NAGICO Insurances (through Peak Reinsurance) * Peak Reinsurance (86.93%) * Pramerica Fosun Life Insurance (50.00%) *

New China Life Insurance New China Life Insurance Co., Ltd. also known as New China Insurance (NCI) or Xinhua Baoxian Jituan () is a Chinese life insurance company based in Beijing. The Chinese government owns more than half of the shares of the company via sovereign fu ...

(3.28%) * United Family Healthcare * Yong'an P&C Insurance (40.68%)

Investment

* Fosun Finance (86%) * Fosun Hani Securities (100%) * Miacom Diagnostics *

Guide Investimentos A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or Tourism, tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recrea ...

(in Brazil)

Media

* Focus Media (5.00%)

Private hospitals

* Chancheng Hospital * Luz Saúde (98.79%) * Starcastle Senior Living (50.00%)

Real estate

Shanghai Forte Land Shanghai Forte Land Company Limited (former stock codes: HKEX:2337), or Shanghai Forte Land and Forte Land, is one of the largest real estate developers in Shanghai, China. It is founded by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang in 1994 and it is head ...

(100%) * Shanghai Zendai Property (14.0%) * Fosun Property Holdings (100%) **

126 Madison Avenue 126 Madison Avenue (also known as 15 East 30th Street and Madison House) is a residential skyscraper under development by Fosun Property in NoMad, Manhattan, New York City. The building will rise 47 stories and , and is expected to be complete ...

(New York) ** 28 Liberty Street (New York) ** 73 Miller Street (Sydney) ** a project in (Dalian) (64%) **Citigroup Center (Tokyo) **

Lloyds Chambers Lloyd, Lloyd's, or Lloyds may refer to: People * Lloyd (name), a variation of the Welsh word ' or ', which means "grey" or "brown" ** List of people with given name Lloyd ** List of people with surname Lloyd * Lloyd (singer) (born 1986), American ...

(London) ** The Bund Finance Center (50.00%)

Retail

* Secret Recipe *

Yuyuan Tourist Mart Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co., Ltd. is the largest retailer, retailing conglomerate in China. The company has presence in a variety of business sectors such as department stores and entertainment Retailing, shops in Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai, th ...

(26.45%)

Technology

iFlytek iFlytek (), styled as iFLYTEK, is a partially state-owned Chinese information technology company established in 1999. It creates voice recognition software and 10+ voice-based internet/mobile products covering education, communication, music, int ...

(strategic minority stake) * Perfect World * The Floow Limited (15%) * WeDoctor

Tourism

Atlantis Sanya Resort Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that be ...

(99.81%) *

(90.10%) * MakeMyTrip (1%) *

Thomas Cook Holidays Thomas Cook Tourism (UK) Company Limited, known as Thomas Cook UK, is an Anglo-Chinese package holiday provider which offers 'Flight + Hotel' packages and Hotel only bookings. The company was launched in 2019, when Chinese firm Fosun Internation ...

Fosun-managed private equity funds

* Carlyle-Fosun * Fosun Capital * Fosun RZ Capital * Fosun Chuanghong * Ji'nan Financial Development Investment Fund * Pramerica-Fosun China Opportunity Fund * Shanghai Sunvision Binhe Equity Investment Center * Shanghai Sunvision Xicheng Equity Investment Center * Star Capital (Shanghai Star Equity Investment L.P.) * Weishi Fund * Zhejiang Growth Fund

Joint ventures

* Nanjing Nangang Iron and Steel United (60% share capital, 50% voting rights) ** Besino Environment (100%) **Koller (84.50%) **

Nanjing Iron and Steel Company Nanjing Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (abb. NISCO) is a publicly traded steel maker based in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. The parent company of NISCO is Nanjing Nangang Iron and Steel United Co., Ltd. (), a joint venture of Hong Kong listed compa ...

(, 48.19%) * Pramerica–Fosun Life Insurance (50%)

Former equity investments

* China Huarong Asset Management * Ironshore *

Thomas Cook Group Plc Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — an ...

(5.76% via Fidelidade) - Entered Compulsory Liquidation 23 September 2019

Shareholders

The major shareholder of Fosun International was a Hong Kong incorporated company Fosun Holdings, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

incorporated company Fosun International Holdings. Three founders of Fosun International, Guo Guangchang,

and Wang Qunbin, owned 64.45%, 24.44% and 11.11% respectively in Fosun International Holdings. Fan Wei, another founder, withdrew his stake in Fosun International Holdings in September 2015.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Conglomerate companies of China Civilian-run enterprises of China Companies based in Shanghai Chinese brands Chinese companies established in 1992 Conglomerate companies established in 1992