When it comes to China’s super companies, people often think of Alibaba, Huawei, Wanda, etc. In fact, some of these companies are not entirely Chinese companies. In China, there are also four very strong consortia, they are China Resources Group, Poly Group, CITIC Group, China Merchants Group.
China Resources Group
China Resources Group is headquartered in Hong Kong and is one of the four largest Chinese companies in Hong Kong. Its predecessor was the underground transportation station established by the CCP in 1938 in Hong Kong for the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Its founder was Yang Lian’an. It has made great contributions to the founding of New China. In 1948, the company was reorganized and renamed China Resources Corporation. In 1983, the China Resources Company was reorganized and established the China Resources Group, which began to be under the supervision and management of the SASAC in 2003. In the same year, China Resources Group successfully ranked 187th among the world’s top 500 companies and has continued to climb since then. At present, China Resources Group has six listed companies including China Resources Power, China Resources Cement, China Resources Pharmaceutical, China Resources Gas, China Resources Beer, and China Resources Land, with more than 400,000 employees. As of the end of last year, China Resources Group’s total assets have reached 1.4 trillion yuan.
In this year’s Fortune 500 list, China Resources Group ranked 80th with a revenue of 91.9 billion US dollars and a net profit of 3.474 billion US dollars. Last year, China Resources Group achieved revenue of 608.5 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, China Resources Group’s operating income reached 301 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5%, and net profit was 36.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31%. China Resources Vanguard Supermarket, C’estbon mineral water, Snow Beer, etc. which everyone is very familiar with are all brands of China Resources Group. Its business covers consumer goods, electricity, real estate, medicine, cement, natural gas, finance and many other fields.
Poly Group
Poly Group was established in 1993, formerly known as Poly Technology Co., Ltd., a large central enterprise group supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. In 1984, it was jointly invested and established by the former General Staff Equipment Department and CITIC Company. Its main business was the import and export of military equipment. In the beginning, in order to cooperate with millions of disarmament, Poly came into being. Today, Poly Group’s business mainly involves international trade, real estate development, cultural and artistic management, mineral resources development and other fields, with business covering more than 100 countries and regions around the world. Just last month, Poly Group and China China Silk Group implemented a reorganization, and China Silk Group was incorporated by Poly Group.
In this year’s list of the world’s top 500 companies, Poly Group ranked 242, with revenue of 46.2 billion US dollars and net profit of 1.495 billion US dollars. Last year, Poly Group’s operating income exceeded 300 billion yuan and its total profit exceeded 40 billion yuan. As of the end of last year, Poly Group had total assets of more than 1 trillion yuan, 11 secondary subsidiaries, five listed companies, and nearly 100,000 employees.
CITIC Group
CITIC Group was founded in 1979 by Rong Yiren. It can be said to be a witness of China’s reform and opening up. Mainly engaged in banking, securities, insurance, funds, trust, real estate, engineering contracting, machinery manufacturing, energy and other fields. Its main business is finance and it belongs to a large financial central enterprise group. In 2011, CITIC Group was restructured into a wholly state-owned enterprise. It is worth mentioning that CITIC once spent 6.3 billion yuan to buy the heart of Beijing’s CBD and built the famous “China Zun” here, and it is also the builder of Beijing Bird’s Nest.
In this year’s Fortune 500 list, CITIC Group ranked 137th with a revenue of US$70.6 billion and a net profit of US$4.566 billion. As of the end of last year, the total assets of CITIC Group reached 6 trillion yuan. CITIC Group has a number of subsidiaries including China CITIC Bank, CITIC Securities, China Asset Management, CITIC Assets, Jinshi Investment, Guoan Construction, CITIC Construction, and 175 first-level subsidiaries, making it the largest enterprise group in China. In China, almost every industry you can think of has the shadow of CITIC.
China Merchants
The history of China Merchants Group can be traced back to 1872. It can be said to be the oldest enterprise in China. It was founded by Li Hongzhang, a famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty. As the earliest shipping company in China, China Merchants witnessed and participated in the Westernization Movement. It is a great achievement of the Westernization Movement and a pioneer of Chinese national industry and commerce. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China Merchants became the earliest Hong Kong company based in Hong Kong. Currently, China Merchants is one of the four largest Chinese-funded enterprises in Hong Kong. Its core business includes transportation and related infrastructure construction, port and highway operation services, financial investment and management, and real estate development and operation. In 2018, China Merchants Group achieved operating income of 649.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11%, a total profit of 145 billion yuan, and a net profit of 107.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%. As of the end of last year, the total assets of China Merchants Group reached 8 trillion yuan.
In this year’s Fortune 500 list, China Merchants Group ranked 244th with a revenue of 45.9 billion US dollars and a net profit of 4.468 billion US dollars. In addition, China Merchants Bank, a subsidiary of China Merchants Group, ranked 188th with an operating income of 55 billion U.S. dollars and a net profit of more than 12.1 billion U.S. dollars. It is reported that China Merchants Bank is the first joint-stock bank in mainland China, which can be regarded as a milestone in China’s financial industry. China Merchants Group has therefore become a large central enterprise group with two Fortune 500 companies.
Therefore, in terms of total assets, China Merchants ranked first with a total assets of 8 trillion yuan, far exceeding the other three central enterprises. From the perspective of last year’s operating income, China Merchants also ranked first with a total income of nearly 650 billion yuan. Therefore, the comprehensive strength of China Merchants should be stronger.