Country Garden Built a $100 Billion City Next to Singapore. About 1% Moved In
Terminal Value
24,555 views
On four man-made islands off the coast of Johor, a short drive from Singapore, there's a city built for 700,000 people. About 9,000 live there.
Forest City was announced as a $100 billion project by Country Garden, once China's biggest homebuilder. It was sold mainly to buyers in China. Then Beijing tightened the limits on money leaving the country, Malaysia said buyers wouldn't get visas to live there, and the city lost its customers before it had its residents.
Country Garden then defaulted, just like Evergrande. But unlike Evergrande, it survived. This is how Forest City was built, who it was really for, and why one Chinese property giant was liquidated while the other is still standing.
CHAPTERS
00:00 A city for 700,000. About 9,000 live there
00:39 A Shunde farmer and his daughter
02:04 The 456 machine
03:28 Forest City
06:06 Both doors close
08:22 The collapse
09:59 Why Country Garden survived
12:01 Forest City now
13:17 Built for someone else
SOURCES
Every figure in this video, with where it came from:
Forest City scale, target population and residents: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_...
On-the-ground reporting, sales, buyers and capital controls: Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/03/18/...
Chinese buyers' share and Mahathir's 2018 comments: SCMP https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southe...
Sultan of Johor's stake: The Edge Malaysia https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/j...
Yang Huiyan and the 2007 IPO: CNN https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/econom...
The 456 model: Wharton case study https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/w...
Growth in smaller cities: The China Project https://thechinaproject.com/2023/10/2...
Liabilities, profit and losses: CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/15/count...
2023 default: CNN https://www.cnn.com/country-garden-de...
$17.7B restructuring approved: A&O Shearman https://www.aoshearman.com/en/news/la...
Forest City Special Financial Zone: EY Malaysia https://www.ey.com/en_my/technical/ta...
More from Terminal Value:
How Evergrande's founder got life: Evergrande's Founder Was China's Richest M...
How Wang Jianlin lost Wanda: China's Richest Man Sold $9 Billion of Hot...
Terminal Value covers companies and money stories the English-speaking internet hasn't told. No predictions, no hot takes. What happened, why, and what it cost.
#business #documentary #finance
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Country Garden Built a $100 Billion City Next to Singapore. About 1% Moved In
Terminal Value
24,555 views
On four man-made islands off the coast of Johor, a short drive from Singapore, there's a city built for 700,000 people. About 9,000 live there.
Forest City was announced as a $100 billion project by Country Garden, once China's biggest homebuilder. It was sold mainly to buyers in China. Then Beijing tightened the limits on money leaving the country, Malaysia said buyers wouldn't get visas to live there, and the city lost its customers before it had its residents.
Country Garden then defaulted, just like Evergrande. But unlike Evergrande, it survived. This is how Forest City was built, who it was really for, and why one Chinese property giant was liquidated while the other is still standing.
CHAPTERS
00:00 A city for 700,000. About 9,000 live there
00:39 A Shunde farmer and his daughter
02:04 The 456 machine
03:28 Forest City
06:06 Both doors close
08:22 The collapse
09:59 Why Country Garden survived
12:01 Forest City now
13:17 Built for someone else
SOURCES
Every figure in this video, with where it came from:
Forest City scale, target population and residents: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_...
On-the-ground reporting, sales, buyers and capital controls: Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/03/18/...
Chinese buyers' share and Mahathir's 2018 comments: SCMP https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southe...
Sultan of Johor's stake: The Edge Malaysia https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/j...
Yang Huiyan and the 2007 IPO: CNN https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/02/econom...
The 456 model: Wharton case study https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/w...
Growth in smaller cities: The China Project https://thechinaproject.com/2023/10/2...
Liabilities, profit and losses: CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/15/count...
2023 default: CNN https://www.cnn.com/country-garden-de...
$17.7B restructuring approved: A&O Shearman https://www.aoshearman.com/en/news/la...
Forest City Special Financial Zone: EY Malaysia https://www.ey.com/en_my/technical/ta...
More from Terminal Value:
How Evergrande's founder got life: Evergrande's Founder Was China's Richest M...
How Wang Jianlin lost Wanda: China's Richest Man Sold $9 Billion of Hot...
Terminal Value covers companies and money stories the English-speaking internet hasn't told. No predictions, no hot takes. What happened, why, and what it cost.
#business #documentary #finance