Michelangelo painting sold to Chinese recycling company

Yulong
Eco Materials

• A Chinese company which used to focus on recycling has
  spent $75 million buying a Michelangelo.
• Yulong Eco-Materials, which until recently was focused
  on recycling bricks and concrete, announced earlier this week
  that it had bought a depiction of the Crucifixion of Jesus
  Christ by Michelangelo.
• The company now says it wants to focus on collecting
  art, abandoning its recycling business.
• It had previously bought a 61,500-carat gem known as
  the “Millennium Sapphire” in October for around $50
  million.

A Chinese company previously focused on recycling has taken a
novel approach to the diversification of its investment
portfolio, spending $75 million to buy a painting by Italian
master Michelangelo Buonarotti.

Yulong Eco-Materials, which until recently was focused on
recycling bricks and concrete, announced earlier this week that
it had bought a depiction of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ
painted by Michelangelo.

Michelangelo Buonarotti is most famous for painting Rome’s
Sistine Chapel, and for his sculpture, David.

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explodes by 950% after pivoting to gemstones

The company says it wants to “open the opportunity of
shared ownership of its acquired masterpieces to anyone with a
brokerage account,” and said that it would pay for the
acquisition by offering 7.5 million shares for sale at $10 per
share.

In an abrupt volte face, Yulong now says it wants to focus
on this business model, rather than recycling.

The Michelangelo is its second serious acquisition,
following the purchase of a 61,500-carat gem known as the
“Millenium Sapphire” in October for around $50 million. It also
offered shares for sale in the gemstone, and has plans to take
the jewel on a world tour,
according to a Bloomberg report.

“Yulong has today pioneered this new disruptive business
model by the acquisition and securitization of fine art through a
Nasdaq-listed security,” Yulong’s executive chairman Daniel
McKinney said in a statement after the Michelangelo purchase was
announced.

Shares in Yulong jumped as much 47% on November 19, the day
the purchase was announced, while in October, after the
acquisition of the Millennium Sapphire,
shares increased almost 1000%.