New Vanke board swears by new biz model

Vanke Co Ltd, China's real estate major, has constituted a new board of directors at its shareholder meeting on Friday.

On June 21, Vanke's largest shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group Co Ltd, had proposed a list of nominees to the board. The list received almost 100 percent affirmative votes on Friday.

Yu Liang, former president of China Vanke Co. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Baoneng Group, Vanke's second-largest shareholder, did not show up at the meeting. None of Baoneng executives was nominated to the new board either.

But Vanke later confirmed that Baoneng has expressed support for the new board.

The new leadership has been tasked to promote a railway-plus-property business model to transform Vanke into a provider of integrated urban services.

The model refers to development of real estate projects on land owned by operators of underground railways.

Wang Shi, Vanke's founder and former chairman, said at the meeting that Vanke and Shenzhen Metro will jointly promote the new business model across the country as well as abroad.

Lin Maode, chairman of Shenzhen Metro, a State-owned, unlisted urban railway operator in Guangdong province, said he believes the next 10 years are going to be a "golden time" for the development of the model.

Also a member of the new Vanke board, Lin said cooperation between Vanke and Shenzhen Metro would become a role model for Chinese corporates.

Shenzhen Metro was established in 1998 and has since built eight railway lines spanning 285 kilometers in the southern city.

Wang Shi, former chairman of Vanke. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Lin said it is planning to build 32 lines in all in the next 10 to 15 years, during which it will also expand to second - and third-tier cities such as Huizhou and Dongguan.

He assured that Shenzhen Metro won't intervene in Vanke's management and will support its mixed ownership.

Yu Liang, former president of Vanke, is tipped to succeed Wang as company chairman. At Friday's meeting, he received 95.14 percent of affirmative votes to be appointed as a director on the new Vanke board.

He told shareholders that based on the partnership with Shenzhen Metro, Vanke will transform into a provider of integrated urban services, expanding its realty business to property management, apartment rentals, winter sports entertainment, elderly care and even education.

Yan Yuejin, research director of the E-House China R&D Institute, said he is positive about Vanke's future prospects, given that the largest shareholder Shenzhen Metro is shaping the former's transformation.

But he also said Vanke's funding ability remains a cause for concern because the railway-plus-property model requires large capital investment.

Vanke's Shenzhen-listed shares closed a tad lower on Friday after surging 20 percent intraday after the constitution of the new board.

On a personal note, Wang, Vanke's outgoing chairman who served the company for 30 years, said he is yet to decide what to do next.