Xiao Xiao (L) and Yan Jianguo share a light-hearted moment during COLI’s annual earnings report in March
China Overseas Land and Investment (COLI) yesterday announced the third major change in its senior leadership over the past six months, replacing chairman Xiao Xiao with Yan Jianguo, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange by the top five mainland developer.
The switch in the top level position comes less than half a year after long-time chairman and CEO Hao Jianmin exited the company last November, and confirms Xiao’s status as stop-gap leader for the property development subsidiary of state-run Chinese construction giant China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).
Yan will become COLI’s paramount leader effective June 13th, just over six months after joining the company as CEO last December, taking over the executive duties from Xiao, who had served as both chairman and CEO for less than a month after Hao’s departure. Before signing up with COLI, Yan had served as Chief Information Officer and Assistant General Manager with rival Longfor Properties, but had spent much of his nearly 30-year career with the CSCEC group.
In its statement to the stock exchange, COLI explained the handover by noting that Xiao, who is 60, had passed the company’s mandatory retirement and decided to resign from his roles as both chairman and executive director of the company.
Hao Jianmin left COLI abruptly last November after 29 years with the state-run giant, with the Hong Kong-listed firm declining to give a reason for the 51-year-old chief executive’s departure. During his last year on the job, Hao had led the RMB 31 billion acquisition of CITIC’s residential development business, however, the Chinese investment conglomerate has since returned to the business of building housing, and in February agreed to pay RMB 9.92 billion for a piece of land in Wuhan.
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