Asia Real Estate People in the News 2019-09-09

In this week’s edition of People in the News, the CEO of a mainland China conglomerate’s sports and media arm has resigned for personal reasons, just over a month after the company scored an IPO own goal.

In other moves around the region, a Hong Kong-listed developer has appointed a former CapitaLand boss as a non-executive director, and the chairman of a Beijing-based developer has resigned after the company failed to make a bond payment last month.

There are also fresh moves for CapitaLand China, Starbucks, China International Capital Corporation, and M Moser Associates.

David Dongwei Yang has resigned from his role as chief executive officer of Wanda Sports China for personal reasons, according to a company announcement by the sports and media arm of mainland China conglomerate Wanda. Yang had held his Beijing-based role for almost four years after joining from NBA China, where he had served as senior vice president and managing director for a decade. He has been replaced by Yimin Gao, who has moved over from Wanda’s educational unit Kidsplace, where he had been the chief executive officer. Yang’s departure follows Wanda Sports’ downsized Nasdaq initial public offering just over a month ago, which only managed to raise $190 million, less than half of its original goal of $500 million.

Xu Hong has resigned as chairman and general manager of Huaye Capital Holdings after the company received a disciplinary notice from the Shanghai stock exchange following a missed bond payment in August, according to a local media report. Following legal proceedings, Huaye Capital Holdings has been ordered to pay the plaintiff, CITIC Beijing, RMB 700 million at an annual interest rate of 7 percent. The developer has since issued three warnings – on 9, 10 and 13 August – that it may be de-listed from the stock exchange. Yu Wei has been appointed to replace Xu, who had served as chair since 2006.

Ming Yan Lim has been appointed as a non-executive director of Hong Kong-listed developer Central China Real Estate, according to a company announcement. Lim had been president and chief executive officer of CapitaLand until his retirement at the end of last year at the age of 55. After joining the Singapore-based developer in 1996, Lim had served as chief executive officer of The Ascott Group from 2009 until 2012 and the chief executive officer of CapitaLand China Holdings between 2000 and 2009. He was appointed as an independent director of Singapore Press Holdings in June.

Yiqi Qian has been appointed as the chief executive officer of CapitaLand China’s real estate and urban development division in Shanghai after serving for over four years as the company’s regional general manager for East China. Prior to this, Qian had served as CapitaLand’s general manager for Ningbo and Hangzhou between 2013 and 2015 and as a director of investment and asset management in Shanghai in 2013. The Peking University graduate has worked for CapitaLand since 2003.

Jocelyn Hao has been promoted to director of store development for Asia Pacific for Starbucks in Hong Kong after serving for a year and a half as a store development director for strategy, systems and insights. Prior to joining the US coffee giant, Hao had served as Crocs’ regional real estate director for APAC, Middle East and Africa for two years and as a director of retail at Cushman and Wakefield in Singapore between 2014 and 2015. The Ateneo de Manila University graduate had also worked as Fast Retailing’s store development director for APAC from 2012 until 2013.

Richard Schestak has been hired as the managing director at Siam Kimpinski Hotel Bangkok, having parted ways after two and a half years with Fairmont Marina in Abu Dhabi where he had been the resort’s general manager. Prior to this, Schestak had served as the general manager of Raffles Jakarta for nearly four years and the general manager of Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh between 2010 and 2013.

Joshua Zheng has been hired as a vice president in the overseas facility operations management division of China International Capital Corporation in Beijing after parting ways with Home Credit China where he had been head of general services for nearly two years. Prior to this, Zheng had served as a Greater China lead of project management and workplace strategies for Hewlett Packard from 2015 until 2017 and as a project and operations director for Shanghai New Trend Consulting between 2010 and 2015.

Ivan Ivanov has been appointed as a senior business development manager at architectural firm M Moser Associates in Shanghai after parting ways with Shanghai-based flooring company Voxflor after four years, most recently serving as a business development manager in Shanghai. Prior to joining Voxflor, Ivanov had been the owner and chief executive officer of golf accessories distributor Shanghai De Yuan Industrial between 2012 and 2015.

Jacky Cui has set up Yue Education, a Beijing-based education consulting company, after two years as a manager at CBRE. Prior to this, Cui had served as a senior analyst at Colliers between 2016 and 2017 and marketing and management intern at Huayuan Property in 2012. The former real estate professional holds a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from Peking University and a master’s degree in urban planning from Melbourn University.

If you know of other Asia real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please contact us here at Mingtiandi.