New | Vanke delays board re-election to hold Baoneng at bay
The developer’s 11-member board, whose tenure expires on March 27, will continue to serve while Vanke works on a new plan, president Yu Liang said.
China Vanke Co., the country’s second-largest developer and target of a hostile takeover last year, said it will refrain from appointing a fresh board of directors even as their tenure ends, dealing a fresh blow to the acquirer Baoneng Group’s effort to seize control.
The tenure of Vanke’s 11-member board expired on Monday, but the Shenzhen-based developer said they can continue to perform their duties, showing no imminent plan to call for a fresh election.
“We do not have a time frame” for the board’s election, Vanke president Yu Liang said at a Hong Kong press conference after presenting the developer’s 2016 financial results. The company is working on a proposal to re-elect the board, and the election process will start once the plan is finalised, he said.
Vanke’s 2016 net profit rose 16 per cent to a better-than-expected 21 billion yuan, due to strong sales and the soaring home prices in China’s major cities.
Vanke had been fending off Baoneng since late 2015, when Yao Zhenhua’s property-and-insurance conglomerate declared a 20 per cent stake accumulated through the open market with a plan to kick out the larger developer’s management team.