The secretive restructuring of a high-profile Chinese group with ties to Beijing has emerged as a critical legal test for foreign investors holding tens of billions of dollars in bonds issued by companies in China.
Peking University Founder Group traces its origins back to the 1980s as a successful hardware business helmed by the late Wang Xuan, a top computer scientist at the prestigious academic institution. Wang, considered the “father of Chinese character typesetting”, also had close connections to the family of former president Jiang Zemin.
However, the state-backed group ran into severe debt problems after expanding into technology, healthcare, property and finance.