Gree Electric Appliances, Jafron Biomedical, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, By-Health, and Ninestar Corp are Zhuhai-based companies that have made the Hurun China's Top 500 Most Valuable Private Companies 2020 listing.

Hurun Research Institute in association with real estate company Shimao Haixia released the list Nov 25 in Foshan City, Guangdong. It ranks private enterprises based on market or estimated values.

Located in Qianshan, Gree Electric Appliances dropped 13 places from the previous edition to 24th with a market value of 349 billion yuan ($53 billion).

The household appliance giant completed mixed-ownership reform in late 2019, as Zhuhai Mingjun Investment Partnership became the largest shareholder upon acquiring a 15 percent stake from State-owned Gree Group. The restructuring was meant to pare down government ownership in this highly competitive industry.

Jafron Biomedical in Tangjiawan [Photo courtesy jafron.com]

Jafron Biomedical in the National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Tangjiawan) moves up 77 places to 177th as its market value increased by 109 percent to 60.5 billion yuan ($9.2 billion). The blood purification behemoth is the most progressive among Zhuhai entries in terms of ranking and market value.

Headquartered in Jinwan District, newcomer Livzon Pharmaceutical Group is rated 260th with a value of 42.5 billion yuan ($6.5 billion). Also from Jinwan, dietary supplements producer By-Health climbs six places to 315th with a value of 36 billion yuan ($5 billion).

Nanping-based Ninestar is one of the largest printing supply manufacturers in the world. It drops 122 spots to 368th with a value of 31.5 billion yuan ($4.8 billion).

Chinese internet titan Tencent is China's most valuable private firm as its market capitalization surged by 2 trillion yuan ($304 billion) to 4.98 trillion yuan ($757 billion). Next leaders, in order, are Alibaba, Meituan, Ping An Insurance, Ant Group, Pinduoduo, Huawei, JD Group, ByteDance, and Midea Group.

The threshold to enter this year's list was 23 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) in company value – up 9 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) from last year. The average value of the top 500 companies is 110 billion yuan ($16.7 billion), up 55 percent, according to Hurun. The increase is attributed to rapid development of the new economy (especially after the pandemic), a sharp rise in the stock markets, and flurry of newly listed enterprises.

Hurun is a research, media, and investments group established in the UK in 1999. It is an influential opinion-leader in the world of business and generated 4 billion views in 2019.