HONG KONG — Hong Kong businessman Stephen Wong was once jailed for theft and fraud. He’s now staging a comeback.

Mr Wong, who founded Chinese TV maker Skyworth Digital Holdings has amassed a net worth of US$1.2 billion (S$1.58 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The majority of the fortune comes from his 36 per cent stake in Skyworth. The rest is derived from a closely held electric-car maker that he’s modelling after billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors.

The Hong Kong tycoon is seeking to develop the new venture as China pushes to contain pollution and demand for electric vehicles increases. The 59-year-old resigned as chairman of Skyworth in 2006 after he and his brother were sentenced to a six-year jail term in Hong Kong.

“He wants to come back and rise again by bringing his previous experience in the capital markets and management to a new territory,” said Mr Zhong Shi, a Beijing-based independent auto analyst who’s a committee member of state-backed China Automobile Dealers Association. “For entrepreneurs, their experience, determination and ideas are more important than products.”

Also known as Mr Wong Wang Sang, the billionaire was released in 2009, Skyworth said. His wife, Madam Lin Wei Ping, serves as chairman of Skyworth. The stock jumped 3.3 per cent to HK$6.88 (S$1.17) as of 10am in Hong Kong trading, set for its biggest gain in more than two weeks. Skyworth shares have climbed 63 per cent this year, compared with the 19 per cent advance in the Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index.

CHINA’S TESLA

Mr Wong owns more than 80 per cent of electric vehicle-maker Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus. Ms Maggie Mak, Hong Kong-based general manager of investor relations at Skyworth, confirmed Mr Wong’s stake in Skyworth and declined to comment on his ownership in the closely held entity.

“Before setting up Nanjing Golden Dragon, Wong enjoyed a good life travelling around the world with his wife and playing golf with friends,” said Ms Shi Wenhui, a brand manager at Nanjing Golden Dragon. “But he felt lonely while his friends were all busy with their work — he couldn’t live a easy life and decided to come back again.”

The billionaire wants to make Nanjing Golden Dragon China’s top manufacturer of electric commercial vehicles within five years, Ms Shi said. It’s goal: become “the Tesla among new-energy commercial vehicles”.

BYD, the automaker part-owned by Mr Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is China’s biggest electric-car maker. The company’s founder, Mr Wang Chuan-Fu, has a net worth of US$5.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg ranking.

‘HOT INDUSTRY’

“New-energy vehicles are the hot industry that tons of investors are looking at,” Mr Zhong said.

The Chinese government has started a strategic initiative to build electric cars on the mainland. As many as 40 models will go on sale in China this year, triple the number available two years ago, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates.

“It’s good for him to enter an industry that enjoys significant support from the Chinese government,” said Mr Cao He, a Beijing-based auto analyst at China Minzu Securities. “People like Wong won’t remain low-profile forever.” BLOOMBERG