Chairman, Vice Chairman At China Manufacturer Investing $916 Million In Ohio Under Police Surveillance

The chairman and vice chairman of a China-based manufacturer planning to invest $916 million in Ohio are under police surveillance at home, the company said in a stock filing in China on Monday.

The statement by Yunnan Energy New Material didn’t provide any details about the reason, adding business was operating normally.

Chairman Paul Lee, a U.S. citizen, is worth $4.6 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today. Vice Chairman Li Xiaohua, a Chinese citizen, is worth $3.3 billion. The two are brothers; the company’s U.S. arm is known as SEMCORP Advanced Materials Group.

SEMCORP said in May it will build a manufacturing facility in Sidney, Ohio, creating nearly 1,200 jobs with $73 million in annual payroll and $916 million in investment. The facility will make separator film, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles. (See announcement here.)

Lee said in a statement then: “The Sidney facility is one of the biggest investments in our company’s history because we know the United States is strongly committed to building the supply chains for EVs and energy storage here at home.”

Yunnan Energy New Material’s shares edged up 3% today; they’re down 13.9% from last Friday. Clients include Panasonic, LG Chemical and Comtemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL.

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