Less than a decade into big reforms, China’s forestry sector is facing scrutiny like never before.
Foreign investors have had a rude awakening after the two biggest Chinese forestry groups listed on international stock markets were accused of fraud, causing their shares to plunge and suffer trading halts. Both companies deny the allegations.
Toronto-listed Sino Forest, which controls plantations across southern China, has lost more than 80 per cent of its market value this month as it fights allegations from Carson Block, a short-seller, that it overstated its assets and routed money through an opaque web of intermediaries to defraud investors.