Chris Wu Steps Up to Group CFO at LifeHub Developer Chongbang

Christopher Wu has made the step up to Group Chief Financial Officer at Chongbang Group, the developer behind a series of LifeHub mixed-use projects in Shanghai and other major mainland centres, according to market sources who spoke with Mingtiandi.

In his new role, Wu is responsible for investment and development, as well as for the finance and information technology departments at Chongbang, which now has seven mixed-use projects on the mainland, ranging from 80,000 to 800,000 square metres.

Wu succeeds former Group Chief Financial Officer Dean Lee, who served as Group CFO for Chongbang from 2016 until this year.

Moving Up with a Mixed-Use Specialist

The promotion is a step up from Wu’s current role as Managing Director for Investment and Development with the developer first established by former Shui On Land executive Henry Cheng in 2003, and which has since gone on to receive financial backing from Canada’s Ivanhoe Cambridge and the Netherlands’ APG.

Wu’s appointment marks the latest step in his six year stint with the developer which started its first project in Shanghai, LifeHub@Daning in 2004 and now have five projects in Shanghai and one each in the neighbouring city of Kunshan and the Zhejiang capital of Hangzhou.

In July last year Chongbang added to its Shanghai portfolio by picking up a site in the city’s Hongkou district for RMB 7.1 billion ($1.05 billion).

From the Square Mile to Shanghai

The old boy of England’s prestigious Rugby School has worked in China since 1999, when he took his first job on the mainland with Xintiandi developer Shui On Land. Wu served as assistant general manager of sales and marketing for the Hong Kong developer between 1999 and 2005 before being hired by US retail specialists Simon Property Group as director of real estate for Asia Pacific.

Three years later, Wu joined Hong Kong’s Link REIT as director for funds management before serving as managing director and head of China for Aussie real estate fund manager MGPA before it was acquired by BlackRock in 2013.

Prior to his career on the mainland, Wu worked as an economic development advisor in the Square Mile for the Corporation of London from 1995 until 1999, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in Economics from City University London and a master’s from London’s Cass Business School.