Asia Briefing: Wedding has left hangover for miner

Chinese coal mining tycoon Xing Libin made the headlines in 2012 after spending nearly €8.5 million on his daughter's wedding. The festivities left quite a hangover, however, Mr Xing is said to be nearly bankrupt and struggling with loans of €3.63 billion.

Ah, but what a wedding it was. A collection of Ferraris, a chorus of China’s best-known entertainers, a coach and horses driven by foreigners, all against the beautiful backdrop of Hainan island.

At the time, Mr Xing said he had combined the wedding with the opening ceremony of a property project for his company in Hainan province and the company’s 10th anniversary to save costs.

Shanxi, in northwest China, is replete with coal mines, many privately operated, that are cash cows for those who lease them from the local governments. In China, "Shanxi coalminer" has become shorthand for arriviste money, for people who get rich quickly but whose fortune is not necessarily built on stable revenues.

His Liansheng Resources Group and 12 subsidiaries will be reorganised, according to a judgment set down at a local court in Shanxi, the Hong Kong Standard reports, and creditors include 10 private enterprises and large state-owned banks, such as Bank of Communications and China Development Bank, and trust firms, which broker private loans and are the cornerstone of the murky shadow banking industry.

Liansheng Group is the tenth-largest coal company of more than 130 in Shanxi, and the biggest privately-owned one. It is a stark illustration of how many companies in China are capitalised by income from both the banks and its "shadow" lending industry.

His is but one of a number of mining companies that have been badly affected by the slowing manufacturing industry and falling commodity prices.