What’s new: The top executive of China’s largest state-owned aviation fuel supplier has been put under investigation by graft busters after the company struggled with sliding business and a failed public listing.
Zhou Qiang, chairman and Communist Party chief of China National Aviation Fuel Group Ltd. (CNAF), is being investigated on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law,” the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Sunday. The phrase often refers to corruption.
Zhou, 63, is approaching his retirement. He joined CNAF in 2016 as party chief and chairman. Before that, he spent 26 years in state-owned automaker Dongfeng Motor Co. Ltd., rising to deputy party chief, and had a one-year stint in China International Intellectual Group Co. Ltd., a central-government-owned human resources service provider.
Background: CNAF is an aviation fuel supplier with central government oversight, and has a business spanning more than 280 airports worldwide. The company and its subsidiaries account for more than 90% of China’s aviation fuel market.
Zhou served as CNAF’s first chairman after the company completed a corporate restructuring in 2018. CNAF filed for a public listing in early 2020 with a target of raising 1.63 billion yuan ($224 million). But the application failed to pass regulatory reviews.
In January 2024, the company withdrew its listing application, terminating its four-year effort as regulators vowed to tighten scrutiny on companies seeking for initial public offering.
CNAF has suffered slowing business over the past few years. Profits from its main aviation fuel business slumped nearly 86% between 2019 and 2021, company reports showed.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
