Country Garden founder Yeung Kwok-keung resigns as chairman and executive director, succeeded by daughter Yang Huiyan
- Yang has jointly managed the day-to-day work of the group and has years of experience specialising in business and management, company says in filing to Hong Kong stock exchange
- Yeung will continue as a special adviser at Country Garden
Country Garden founder Yeung Kwok-keung resigned as chairman and executive director for “age reasons” on Wednesday, but will remain a special adviser at the Chinese property developer.
Yang has “jointly managed the day-to-day work of the group with Mr Yeung, and has been responsible for the group’s strategic planning and has years of experience specialising in business and management”, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Yang joined the developer in 2005 and held management positions in departments such as the investment planning centre, procurement, the human resource management centre and digital management centre, before becoming co-chairman in 2018.
“The growth of Country Garden is closely related to rapid urbanisation in China,” said Yan Yuejin, director of Shanghai-based E-house China Research and Development Institute. “It seized this opportunity to expand its business. Investors will also keep an eye on how the company seeks new development opportunities … in China.”
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Country Garden was the third-largest developer by sales in the first two months of this year, according to a report by mainland Chinese real estate consultancy CRIC on Tuesday. The company generated 56.2 billion yuan (US$8.1 billion) in sales, behind only Poly Real Estate’s 63.5 billion yuan worth of sales and China Vanke’s 57.3 billion yuan.
Last year, Country Garden recorded the most sales, raking in 464.3 billion yuan, followed by Poly Real Estate and Vanke.
“Management change will have no immediate effect on the company’s credit quality,” said Moody’s analysts in a research note on Wednesday, citing the company’s “established operating procedures and corporate management systems.”
They also mentioned Country Garden’s large exposure to low-tier cities, moderate credit metrics and constrained access to funding.
“We expect Country Garden’s financial metrics to weaken over the next one to two years because of its shrinking sales and declining profitability,” they wrote.
“The negative rating outlook reflects our expectation that Country Garden’s financial position and liquidity could worsen in the next 12-18 months because of uncertain operating and funding conditions.”
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But unlike other debt-laden developers, Country Garden has so far not defaulted on its debt. It is among the few benchmark firms along with Longfor and Hangzhou Binjiang Real Estate Group that have been cleared by auditors for three consecutive years, have not defaulted and are deemed systemically important by Beijing, CRIC said.
As for Yang herself, her net worth shrank by more than 52 per cent to US$11.3 billion last year, after Country Garden’s stock took a plunge amid the property crisis. Before that, she was dubbed Asia’s richest woman with a fortune of US$23.7 billion in 2021.
She currently holds 14.54 billion shares, or a 52.6 per cent stake, in Country Garden. According to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, her net worth dipped further to US$8.65 billion in February, down 12.4 per cent from last year.
