China Vanke and Shenzhen Metro chairman Xin Jie may have attended his last board meeting
China Vanke is facing a fresh challenge after the embattled mainland developer revealed on Monday that its chairman has resigned after less than nine months on the job, with reports indicating that the long-time Shenzhen Metro boss has been detained in a corruption probe.
Xin Jie, who took over the chairman role at China Vanke after the company warned of a RMB 45 billion ($6.2 billion) loss for 2024, has resigned for personal reasons, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Vanke made the announcement after online media reports surfaced on Saturday indicating that Xin had been taken away by authorities while attending a conference in Shenzhen on 18 September and has since been held in an undisclosed location.
The developer’s statement revealed few details beyond noting that Xin had no disagreements with the board. Following the announcement, Vanke’s Hong Kong-listed shares dropped by up to 6.3 percent in early trading before closing down 3.3 percent, while the Hang Seng Index fell by 1.5 percent.
New Chairman Named
With Xin off the team, China Vanke has appointed his longtime Shenzhen Metro colleague to take over as chairman, according to the announcement. Huang has been a director of the company since 2021 with Shenzhen Metro ranking as the controlling shareholder in the developer with a 27.2 percent stake.
Huang Liping has taken over as chairman at China Vanke
Huang also holds the positions of general manager and deputy party secretary at Shenzhen Metro.
The leadership change at China Vanke comes after Xin was appointed chairman in late January in a reshuffle that saw president and CEO Zhu Jiusheng sacked and long-serving chairman Yu Liang demoted in favour of a team of Shenzhen Metro veterans.
Xin has served as chairman and party secretary at Shenzhen Metro since 2017, and continued to hold these positions after stepping in at Vanke.
While no official announcements have been made regarding Xin’s reported detention, there has been speculation online concerning illicit practices in Shenzhen Metro projects.
There have also been allegations of nepotism in the reorganisation of China Vanke, which scrapped regional subsidiaries and moved the developer’s 16 local branches directly under the headquarters’ management under Xin’s leadership.
Xin’s last high-profile public appearance was in late August when he attended a signing ceremony for a partnership between Vanke, Shenzhen Metro, and Finnish elevator maker KONE Corporation. Prior to that event, Xin had chaired Vanke’s general shareholders’ meeting in late June.
Liquidity Challenges
China Vanke’s latest leadership change brings more uncertainty for the company, which reported a half-year loss of RMB 11.6 billion ($1.6 billion) in August.
Since strengthening its control over Vanke, Shenzhen Metro has loaned RMB 25.9 billion to the company to help it repay debts. Those lifelines include a RMB 2.1 billion loan last month which carried a 2.34 percent interest rate at the same time that the one-year prime lending rate in China stood at 3 percent.
With China’s housing market continuing to face a slump, Vanke reported contracted sales of RMB 100.3 billion for the first nine months of 2025, with that figure representing a 44 percent decline year-on-year, according to data from China Index Academy.
With RMB 69.3 billion of cash as of the end of June, the developer faced short term debt of RMB 155.4 billion, according to its interim report.
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