Already a subscriber?It was Christmas Eve, and most families were making holiday plans, with one eye on the storms threatening to roll across Australia’s east coast. The Wus – wealthy and very, very private – had other things on their minds.
Investing in commercial and residential real estate on Sydney’s North Shore – one son became a property developer – they jealously guarded their privacy. Almost no photos exist of the family in the public domain, and even neighbours barely know who they are. It was obvious the company, despite being profitable, had too much debt. The Chinese, but there was a catch. The Wu family had inserted a clause into their contract which guaranteed them, if the business was sold, the right to make the last bid – unless someone else bid more than $600 million, which was highly unlikely.But someone in China didn’t want Nature’s Care to go back to the Taiwanese family that had sold it to them for such a high sum.
A Supreme Court judge would later describe the offer to buy the debt as “commercially irresistible” because lenders would get all their money back. And it would allow the family to re-take control of the company, given it was in default. The debt offer – as entirely expected – went down badly with the Chinese, who decided the time had come for a complete break with their Taiwanese business partners.