Co-President of China’s CFLD Detained on Unspecified Charges

China Fortune Land Development has become the latest mainland builder to suffer from an acute case of director disappearance after the former top 10 developer said it received notice that Meng Jing, a CFLD director and co-president, was detained by authorities on suspicion of criminal activity.

Shanghai-listed CFLD said it was informed of the detention by the Supervisory Committee of Chongyang County in Hubei province. No specific charges were disclosed.

According to CFLD, the matter is being investigated by relevant departments and the company will pay close attention to the progress of the situation and fulfil information disclosure obligations. Meng’s work has been reassigned.

“At present, the company’s operation and management work is carried out in a normal and orderly manner, and the aforementioned matters will not affect the company’s daily operation decisions,” CFLD’s board said Wednesday in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Troubles Continue

Beijing-based CFLD, which is best known for building and operating industrial-centred townships, has announced plans to restructure RMB 219.2 billion in onshore debt and nearly $5 billion in offshore bonds amid a string of defaults.

Led by chairman Li Xin the company became a pioneer of China’s developer liquidity crisis in February 2021 when it defaulted on $530 million in dollar-denominated bonds.

After a series of further debt delinquencies, CFLD launched an onshore bond restructuring effort and last September drew creditor opposition for its proposed restructuring plan. Analysts said the plan would only let bondholders recover about 30 percent of their original investment by the end of 2023 under a best-case scenario that included the completion of asset sales by CFLD.

The company in late 2022 agreed to sell its interests in three mixed-use projects in the cities of Wuhan and Nanjing to mainland property giant China Resources Land for a total of RMB 12.4 billion ($1.8 billion).

No stranger to intrigue, CFLD in 2021 revealed that it had lost contact with China Create Capital, a wealth management firm to which it had entrusted $313 million in 2018. The builder had expected to earn a 7 to 10 percent annual return on investment through the end of 2022, but the controller of China Create Capital, former PLA soldier Zhang Wei, was arrested in 2019 on charges of operating a black-market lending empire in Shenzhen.

Missing in Action

News of Meng Jing’s detention comes the same week that Hong Kong-listed Seazen Group, one of China’s largest homebuilders, said it had lost contact with its vice chairman.

Mainland news sources reported that the missing executive, Qu Dejun, is cooperating with authorities on an investigation into Dalian Wanda Group, where he previously held top management positions.

Qu was last seen in public on 16 January when he attended a ceremony for a Seazen business partnership in the southern Chinese city of Xiamen, Caixin reported.