Country Garden Boss Yang Guoqiang Steps Aside as Daughter Named Sole Chairman

A long anticipated succession at Country Garden Holdings has moved forward as chairman and executive director Yang Guoqiang hands the reins to daughter Yang Huiyan, adding to a string of mainland developer founders stepping back from their posts during China’s property crisis.

Yang Guoqiang, also known as Yeung Kwok Keung in Cantonese, tendered his resignation from his positions for age reasons with effect from 1 March, Country Garden said Wednesday in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. The 68-year-old will continue to take part in corporate operations as a special advisor to the Guangdong-based group.

Yang Huiyan, 41, has served as co-chairman of Country Garden since December 2018 and was managing day-to-day operations alongside her father. She succeeds to the position of chairman with effect from 1 March and will remain an executive director of the group.

“This succession reflected Mr Yeung’s full trust and recognition of Ms Yang, and the company will achieve better development under the leadership of the board and management,” Country Garden president Mo Bin said in the filing.

Clinging to Richest Title

Yang Huiyan started with Country Garden in 2005 after graduating from Ohio State University and inheriting her father’s majority stake in the group. She currently holds 52.6 percent of the equity in Country Garden, according to the filing.

Yang has enjoyed the title of Asia’s richest woman since at least 2012, but that distinction came under pressure last year as her net worth plunged by more than 52 percent to $16.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The downward adjustment, driven by China’s real estate crisis, reportedly dropped Yang to just above the runner-up, chemical fibre tycoon Fan Hongwei, whose net worth was estimated at $16 billion.

In late December, Concrete Win Ltd, a company wholly owned by Yang, extended an interest-free loan of nearly HK$5.1 billion ($647 million) to Country Garden “to support the operation and development of the group”. Earlier that month, Yang had agreed to sell a portion of her controlling stake in Country Garden Services Holdings, the group’s property management arm, for HK$5.06 billion, cutting her stake in the company from 43.15 to 36.12 percent.

“The board would like to welcome Ms Yang for taking over the position as the chairman of the company and has every confidence that she will continue to contribute to the sustainable and steady development of the company,” Mo said.

Founder Exits Accelerate

Yang Guoqiang’s resignation continues a trend of mainland founder-chairmen stepping back from everyday operations in the wake of China’s property turmoil.

Last November, Beijing-based Modern Land announced that founder Zhang Lei would cease to be chairman and be replaced by the company’s president and executive director, Zhang Peng (no relation).

A month earlier, Longfor Group Holdings founder Wu Yajun had stepped down as chairperson and given her role to chief executive Chen Xuping, citing age and health reasons.

In September, Chinese billionaire couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin resigned as chairman and chief executive of Soho China shortly after the company’s CFO, Ni Kuiyang, came under investigation for insider trading associated with Blackstone’s abandoned buyout of the commercial developer.