Chinese businessman Li Ganjun has become a billionaire after domestic investors bid shares in his home furniture supplier Suofeiya Home Collection higher following a successful stock placement.

Li, 52, owns 24.3% of Shenzhen-listed Suofeiya, a stake worth $1 billion on Monday.  The company’s share price has gained by almost 50% in the past year, leaving Suofeiya’s valuation at a lofty price-earnings ratio of almost 50, analysts say.

China is home to the world’s second-largest collection of billionaires after the United States. A recovery in China’s stock prices and strong performances by newly listed companies this year have helped to increase the number of billionaires in the country rin the past several months.

Suofeiya raised the equivalent of $167 million in a private placement last month, adding capital to support its Internet platform, IT system upgrading, and plant expansion. Suofeiya’s revenue and net profit in the first half of 2016 was 1.7 billion yuan and 200 million yuan, or $253 million and $30.3 million, up 44% and 48% from a year earlier.

–with Maggie Chen

(Source: forbes.com  Author: Russell Flannery)