The Chinese businessman eyeing up Anfield is not a
tycoon but an ambitious deal-maker with a passion for sport
Few in Britain have heard of Kenneth Huang, the Chinese
businessman now in talks to take control of Liverpool.
But then, few in China or the United States knew of the sports
entrepreneur before he launched an ambitious $70m bid to buy a
stake in a National Basketball Association team 15 months
ago.
Born Huang Jianhua in southern Guangdong province in 1964, he is
said to have been an outstanding badminton player in his youth. But
it is by combining his love of sport and contacts in China with
American business experience – he was the first
Chinese graduate to work at the New York Stock Exchange – that he
has made headlines.
He graduated from his hometown's Zhongshan University before
moving overseas to study at Columbia University and then complete a
masters degree at St John's in New York. He reportedly speaks
Japanese as well as Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
Unlike previous high-profile foreign bidders for British teams,
he is not a tycoon but a deal-maker who has built his career on
bringing people and organisations together – specifically, American
and Chinese businesses.
His first notable forays into the sports world came when he cut
deals to market the Houston Rockets – given the vast appetite for
basketball among young people in China where there are said to be
up to 300m fans it was an obvious match – and baseball's New York
Yankees to Chinese businesses.
But he grabbed attention when he led a Chinese investment
group's move to buy a 15% stake in the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers in
spring last year. Months later, he underlined his domestic
ambitions with a preliminary deal to take over the Jilin Northeast
Tigers, part of the Chinese Basketball Association.
His Hong Kong-based QSL company also announced a 15-year deal to
help develop a youth baseball team in China, investing several
million dollars to raise the profile of a sport largely unknown in
the country.
"It seems like he is trying to piece together a one-man-created
sports empire: baseball, basketball, football; the US, England and
China," said Maggie Rauch, editor of the China Sports Today blog. "The industry
perception is that they are keeping an eye on this guy and seeing
what he is up to. So far he has maybe done more talking than doing
as far as building anything here in sports goes."
Huang is also managing director of Rocket Capital – the
investment platform he launched with Leslie Alexander, owner of the
Houston Rockets – which focuses on emerging markets and
particularly China. So far they have invested in companies ranging
from the China Railway Group to carmakers Brilliance Auto, the
Xinjiang Xinxin Mining Industry Company and the Longrun Tea
Group.
Unsurprisingly, he appears as well-connected in the world of
Chinese business and government as he is in sporting circles.
A biographical note on the website of Aspen Infrastructure –
where he is a director – describes him as "one of the most
accomplished business executives partnering with some of the
largest state-owned enterprises in China".
Despite his ambition he has kept a low profile, giving few
interviews or press conferences. An employee at QSL Limited said
today that no one was available to speak to reporters.
