Fosun International is a Chinese investment conglomerate with annual revenues of more than $11 billion. The company is headquartered in Shanghai, has dozens of subsidiaries in China and worldwide, mainly focusing in the areas of real estate, healthcare, tourism, insurance, wealth management, and some manufacturing.
Fosun International is a Chinese investment conglomerate with dozens of subsidiaries in China and worldwide. Its business interests focus on real estate, healthcare, tourism, insurance, wealth management, and some manufacturing. In 2016, the company reported an annual revenues of more than $11 billion.
In 2016, Fosun bought Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories, an Israeli company that manufactures and markets cosmetic products using Dead Sea minerals. Ahava’s main facility, which includes its production site, visitor center, and factory outlet, is located in the illegal settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the occupied Jordan Valley.
According to a 2012 Who Profits report, Ahava has been excavating Dead Sea mud at least since 2004, at a site belonging to Kalya, an adjacent illegal settlement. This is in direct violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the use of land and other natural resources in an occupied territory for the non-military purposes of the occupier. In an April 2016 response to a Who Profits inquiry, the Israeli Civil Administration stated that Ahava lost its license to excavate mud in the occupied part of the Dead Sea area. However, a November 2016 visit to the production site indicated a continued mining of mud in the occupied area.
Ahava continues to market its products under misleading labels, concealing the location of its factory in an illegal settlement. In an interview just before the purchase by Fosun, the Chinese company’s representative in Israel acknowledged that Fosun was aware of the location of the factory, and of the controversy surrounding it, “since the negotiations began.”
Because of the ongoing controversy over Ahava’s operations on occupied Palestinian land, a new manufacturing facility and visitor center has been under construction since 2016 in Ein Gedi, a few kilometers south of the current location and outside the occupied Palestinian territory. However, the company plans are yet unclear, as some Israeli press claimed after the sale announcement that Ahava’s current facilities in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement would remain in place and continue operating even after the new site opens.
Other Controversies:
In December 2015, Fosun International founder and chairman, Guo Guangchang, was detained by the Chinese police for a few days in relation to a major government anti-corruption investigation. Fosun halted trading of its shares until Guo was released from police custody. Earlier that year, Guo was named in a corruption court case in Shanghai, however no charges were pressed against him.