Two rich kids, the harbourside mansion and an epic private credit fail
by Campbell Kwan · Australian Financial ReviewCampbell KwanRetail reporter
Oct 24, 2026 – 5.00am
It was marketed as a private credit specialist with glitzy assets and the backing of a billionaire Chinese family and the scion of a Sydney property dynasty that had built half of Darling Harbour. Instead, Initium Capital collapsed after pursuing a series of high-risk investments, leaving millions of dollars missing across a complicated web of companies.
Now liquidators are trying to sort through who is owed what – at least $43.8 million – by the firm founded by Victor Huang and Max Hayson, alongside their families’ long-time private banker, Bo Zhuang, in 2021. Their inquiries are already revealing how grand ambitions to become a private credit and wealth advisory powerhouse, investing on behalf of some of the city’s richest individuals and families, went so spectacularly wrong.
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Campbell KwanRetail reporterCampbell Kwan covers retail and consumer goods for The Australian Financial Review, based in the Sydney newsroom. Before that, he was a property reporter and a breaking news reporter. Email Campbell at campbell.kwan@afr.com
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