An expansion driven by mergers and chemicals

It seems impossible that a start-up cleaning company, mainly engaged in producing chemicals to wash boilers and tea urns, becomes one of the top 500 companies in the world, but Ren Jianxin did it.

And it took him 27 years. Ren, 52, established the enterprise in 1984 and grew it to China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina), with total assets of 248 billion yuan ($39.1 billion). This year, the company made it to the Fortune top 500 enterprises.

Ren, the president of ChemChina, is also widely considered as the "king of mergers", reflecting how he used mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to expand aggressively in the global market.