New chairman Li Xin has spent decades at China Resources Land and its parent group
China Resources Land, the mainland’s eighth-largest developer by contracted sales, has appointed Li Xin as company chairman to replace Wang Xiangming, who stepped down from the post after two and a half years on the job.
Li, 50, joined China Resources Land in 2001 and has served as executive director since April 2017 and president since December 2018. His elevation to chairman of the board took effect last Thursday, the Hong Kong-listed company said in a stock filing.
Wang had assumed the chairmanship at China Resources Land in December 2019 after a period in top executive roles at China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The 59-year-old is pursuing other work at China Resources Group, the developer’s state-owned parent firm, and no longer sits on the board.
In the stock filing, Li thanked Wang for his “dedication and invaluable contributions” to the Shenzhen-based company during his tenure, in which he oversaw events including the Hong Kong IPO of China Resources Land’s services arm in 2020 and the procurement of fresh financing from China Merchants Bank earlier this year.
Three-Year Tour
Li began working for China Resources Holdings in 1994 after earning a bachelor’s degree in management from Dongbei University of Finance & Economics. He also holds a master’s degree in project management from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and has extensive experience in property development and corporate management, China Resources Land said.
Wang Xiangming served as chairman for two and a half years
Li’s appointment as chairman runs for a three-year term, but he will be subject to rotational retirement and re-election requirements at China Resources Land’s annual general meeting, the company said. For 2021, Li received compensation of RMB 10,147,000 (more than $1.5 million) for his duties.
In August 2020, Li was appointed chairman and non-executive director of China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services, the group’s property management division, which later that year raised $1.58 billion in a Hong Kong IPO with cornerstone investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Bloomberg reported.
Li also served as chairman of the nomination committee and a member of the remuneration Committee at China Resources Mixc Lifestyle and is a director of various other subsidiaries of China Resources Land.
Final Financial Stroke
As one of its last initiatives with Wang at the helm, China Resources Land in January signed an agreement to borrow RMB 23 billion ($3.6 billion) from China Merchants Bank to finance property acquisitions, exemplifying Beijing’s strategy of using state-owned companies to rescue the country’s embattled real estate sector.
The bank controlled by state-owned China Merchants Group is providing RMB 20 billion to China Resources Land and RMB 3 billion to CR Mixc Lifestyle to go towards M&A loans, M&A funds, asset securities and various financing products based on M&A-related business needs.
The January deal was disclosed after announcements that CR Mixc Lifestyle would acquire a local competitor run by Jiangsu Zhongnan Group for up to RMB 2.26 billion and purchase the property management operations of developer Yuzhou Group Holdings for up to RMB 1.06 billion.
China Resources Land’s contracted sales rose by 19.5 percent in 2021 to RMB 217 billion, boosting the developer to eighth place from 12th in the previous year. The company posted a 2021 profit of RMB 37.4 billion, up 9.7 percent year-on-year, on revenue of RMB 212.1 billion, up 18.1 percent.
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