Beijing - Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group denied Feb 4 that group Chairman Huang Nubo ever pledged to donate 50 billion yuan (S$10 billion) to Peking University as an academic institution's recent report said.

The statement on the group's website said Huang once said in an interview that he hoped to donate half of his assets to Peking University in the future, but he never specified a precise amount.

The statement added that the China Philanthropy Research Institute with the Beijing Normal University had not contacted Huang or his company to confirm information before it published a report on Feb 1 that ranked Huang first on a list of top 100 philanthropists in the Chinese mainland.

The institute on Monday released an online statement on Monday night that announced it was removing Huang from its list.