(Yicai) March 11 -- A large residence in poor shape previously owned by Dai Zhikang, the founder of investment company Zendai Group imprisoned for illegal fundraising, was sold for CNY144 million (USD20 million) at a judicial auction.

Located in the core area of Shanghai's Pudong district, the mansion has a floor space of 681 square meters and was sold after 117 bidding rounds by five bidders, data from Alibaba Group's judicial auction platform showed on March 7. Its starting price was CNY90 million (USD12.5 million), with a market appraisal price of CNY127 million.

Born in Jiangsu province in 1964, Dai founded the first mutual fund firm on the Chinese mainland in 1992 and later turned it into Zendai, which spanned the property and finance sectors. His personal wealth peaked at CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion) in 2007, ranking him 65th in the Hurun China Rich List that year.

Zendai encountered a redemption crisis over its internet finance business in 2019, and Dai turned himself in. The police said that Dai, who was also the Shanghai-based firm's general manager and legal representative, admitted that the company pooled and misappropriated funds, which it cannot repay to investors.

In December 2022, Dai was sentenced to 19 years in prison on charges of illegal fundraising by a court in Shanghai, with his assets later gradually being put out to tender by the court.

From court photos, it can be seen that the mention is missing most of its walls, and according to the auction's bulletin, the buyer needs to shell out a fortune to restore it to its original state. The building also has arrears of over CNY500,000 (USD69,570) in property management fees.

The mansion is about six kilometers from Shanghai's financial central business district Lujiazui. Standard apartments in the core area of Pudong are priced at on average about CNY130,000 per square meter, while the mansion was priced at on average CNY210,000 per sqm.

Given that use rights for residence-purpose land are no longer available in Pudong's core area, the mansion is considered as precious property, Lu Wenxi, a senior analyst at Shanghai Zhongyuan Real Estate Consulting, told Yicai. As a comparison, the price of mansions for sale in downtown Shanghai's historic scenic area has reached at most CNY240,000 per sqm, Lu noted.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev