BEIJING (Reuters) – The government in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has made 10 new management appointments at China Vanke, according to an internal document seen by Reuters, in another move to tighten control over the property developer.
Vanke, one of the best-known property company names in China and currently around a third owned by state-owned Shenzhen Metro, announced last month that Chairman Yu Liang and CEO Zhu Jiusheng have stepped down.
Shenzhen Metro’s Chairman Xin Jie became new chair of Vanke, whose financial woes have re-ignited concerns about the outlook for the crisis-hit property sector, while three other executives from Shenzhen state firms joined as executive vice presidents.
In the latest move, 10 new appointments of executives from firms owned by the Shenzhen government asset manager, including Shenzhen Metro, at the mid-level management in Vanke were made this week, according to the document circulated internally.
The roles of the executives at Shenzhen-based Vanke range from strategic investment to capital management and legal affairs to project development, the document dated Wednesday showed.
Vanke declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Thursday.
Yu Liang, who stepped down from the role of chairman to executive vice president last month, will be in charge of macro research for strategy and real estate in his new role, according to a separate internal document.
The latest development marks another step by the local government to increase state oversight and intervention to contain any non-repayment risks as the developer faces several debt maturity deadlines this year.
Investors have cheered the last month’s top management reshuffle that reinforced the government support, as it signalled the removal of near-term default risks and hoped it would bring some stability to the struggling property sector.
Investors are seeing Vanke’s ability to meet repayment obligations as an acid test of homebuyer confidence in the world’s second-largest economy, amid initial signs of stabilisation in the property sector in the past few months.
They worry that worsening financial woes at Vanke, which has forecast a record $6.2 billion net loss for 2024, could further shut off financing to the sector, squeezing developers that have not defaulted.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Clare Jim; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and David Evans)
