In the first quarter, there were senior management changes in the commercial real estate circle: Sun Jia took the helm of Vanke Retail, Ronnie Chan retired from Hang Lung, and Luo Zhenyu left Hopson

Perform. However, compared with previous years, it seems to be a little more "cautious", paying more attention to the cultivation and appointment of "endogenous" forces, and some "veterans" have even shouldered heavy responsibilities again.

Winshang.com took stock of the changes of 19 commercial real estate executives in the first quarter of 2024 and found that "internal transfers" are still the mainstream, and more than half of the personnel changes occur within the enterprise - some adjust the organizational structure, and regional executives have carried out a rotation of defense, and some carry out power transfers, triggering market reverie.

Vanke set up a commercial business department, merged 7 regional commercial businesses and SCPG Group, and Sun Jia, Ding Liye, and Wang Haiwu formed an "iron triangle";

CR Mixc Life has appointed two new senior executives, Wang Lei as Vice President and Guo Ruifeng as Chief Strategic Operating Officer, of which Guo Ruifeng has been mainly responsible for CR Land's commercial operation services since November 2016;

Wanda has undergone major personnel changes, with "veteran" Zhang Lin resigning as president of Wanda Cultural Tourism Group, retaining only the position of director of Wanda Group; Zhang Chunyuan became the executive president of Cultural Tourism Group, responsible for the overall work of the cultural tourism group;

Ronnie Chan announced that he was about to retire, and the 200 billion Hang Lung territory was officially "handed over" to his son Chen Wenbo......

Some people also chose to change jobs, Luo Zhenyu "bid farewell" to Hopson Development, joined Vietnam Nanlong Group, and shifted the focus of work to the Vietnamese market in the stage of rapid development.

Vanke established a new commercial BG

Start the development of business "a game of chess".

Sun Jia "in charge"

From January to March, Vanke made three organizational restructurings: in January, it announced the establishment of the Commercial Business Division (hereinafter referred to as the "Commercial BG") to be responsible for the operation and management of Vanke's commercial business, and the original 7 regional commercial businesses were merged into the Commercial Division;

It is observed that the adjustment of the two major regions of Vanke South and Shanghai is a reorganization and allocation of city companies, and the establishment of a commercial BG means that Vanke will accelerate the integration of its commercial business.

Organizational chart of Vanke Group after the establishment of the commercial BG

Source/Vanke official website

For a long time, Vanke Group's business sector has been relatively fragmented, except for SCPG Group, Vanke's seven major regions have their own commercial business, especially in Shanghai and the southern region. Now, the establishment of the Commercial Division marks the beginning of Vanke's commercial development.

In the organizational structure of Vanke Group, the commercial sector has also been upgraded from BU to BG. Vanke's emphasis on the commercial sector is also reflected in the first batch of personnel appointments in the commercial division: Sun Jia is the chief partner and general manager, Ding Liye is also the chief consultant, and Wang Haiwu is the core partner.

During his tenure in Shanghai, Sun Jia developed and operated a number of commercial complexes, successively served as General Manager of Strategy & Investment Management Department of Vanke, General Manager of Xi'an Vanke, General Manager of Shanghai Vanke, Executive Vice President, Head of Finance, Chief Financial Officer of Vanke Group, and CEO of Vanke Southern Regional Business Group. In 2021, Wang Haiwu took the initiative to invite Ying to "parachute" SCPG as president from the position of COO of Vanke Group.

Vanke's elevation of the commercial sector to a new level is closely related to the favorable policies of the current consumer infrastructure REITs pilot policy.

Among the first batch of four consumer infrastructure REITs in China, Vanke has seized a place - "CICC SCPG Consumer REIT" with Hangzhou Xixi Impression City as the underlying asset. In the future, the expansion of consumer infrastructure REITs will require the depth of commercial assets, the richness of asset pools and the strength of commercial operations, and Vanke's system contains a large number of commercial projects.

When the handover of Hang Lung's "helmsman" is underway

Ronnie Chan handed over to Chan Wenbo

In recent years, the transfer of power in real estate enterprises has occurred from time to time, with veterans retiring and newcomers entering the market, and Hang Lung officially ushered in a new generation of "leaders" this year.

On January 30, Hang Lung Group and Hang Lung Properties jointly announced that Ronnie Chan will retire as Chairman, Executive Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Group and be succeeded by his son Chan Man Bok, who will be awarded the title of "Honorary Chairman". The above personnel changes will take effect after the conclusion of the annual general meeting to be held on 26 April.

It is understood that Chen Wenbo joined Hang Lung Group in 2010, starting from the grassroots level, and then promoted to administrative assistant, senior manager, assistant director, etc., and joined the board of directors as an executive director in 2016. In September 2020, Chen Wenbo was promoted to Vice Chairman of Hang Lung Group and Hang Lung Properties.

During his more than 10 years with Hang Lung, he has been involved in all major aspects of the Group's business, including a number of benchmark projects in the Mainland. According to reports, the renovation of Shanghai Hang Lung Plaza and Grand Gateway Hang Lung Plaza in 2016 was led by Chen Wenbo. Wuhan Henglong Plaza, which opened in March 2021, personally participated in the whole process from land acquisition, construction, investment promotion to preparation for opening.

At the 2023 results conference, Ronnie Chan said that in the past, the group has been consciously arranging a successor. In fact, Hang Lung has established a stable management team. In a 2018 letter to shareholders, Ronnie Chan said that the management responsibilities would fall mainly on Mr. Lo and Mr. Chan, and the following year he added that "the two should be able to ensure continuity in the management of the company for at least 20 to 30 years." ”

After 33 years at the helm of Hang Lung, Ronnie Chan is retiring. As the new helmsman of Hang Lung, Chan said that the company's style and strategy will not change much in the next few years.

Luo Zhenyu "waved goodbye" to Hopson Creation

Joined Vietnam Nam Long Group

In the first quarter, I saw the industry "bigwigs" choose to "change jobs".

On February 5, Hopson Development announced that Luo Zhenyu resigned as co-president due to personal reasons. One month later, Loh joined Nam Long, a Vietnamese real estate developer, as CEO, working full-time in the Vietnamese market. For the domestic market, Luo Zhenyu did not give up. According to Guanguan.com, Luo Zhenyu has set up an investment and asset management platform in China, Eucalyptus Capital, focusing on the long-term rental apartment industry.

Prior to joining CapitaLand, where he was an associate director of Temasek Holdings' Private Equity Investments, he was involved in the real estate industry in 1991 and held senior positions at CapitaLand Development.

During his 20-year tenure at CapitaLand, Mr Loh has served as Senior Vice President of Ascott China, General Manager of CapitaLand China South China, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of CapitaLand China, and President of CapitaLand China. During his tenure, Lo led the evolution of the South China region from a single residential complex to a mixed-use complex, and was responsible for the company's real estate finance business, including the Raffles City China Fund and the US$1.5 billion Raffles City Investment Partners III private equity investment vehicle.

In the second half of 2021, after "applying for retirement" from CapitaLand, Lo joined Hopson Development as Co-President and President of Hopson Real Estate, with the main task of establishing a real estate system and capitalizing assets.

It is reported that Luo Zhenyu joined Hopson Development for more than 2 months, and set up a fund and asset management team of more than 30 people, which doubled after one year. After years of development, Hopson Development has accumulated a large number of assets such as hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls, and Luo Zhenyu needs to "revitalize" these assets, recoup funds, and invest them in new development projects.

In 2023, consumer infrastructure REITs will "break the ice", relevant favorable policies will be introduced one after another, and major commercial operators will apply for related projects one after another. Luo Zhenyu also said that Hopson Hui and Hopson Plaza may be placed in REITs. Unfortunately, until Luo Zhenyu left, Hopson Development had not made any relevant moves in this regard. After two and a half years at Hopson, Luo Zhenyu said, "The change has basically been achieved. ”

Now, Luo Zhenyu has chosen the new owner in Vietnam, a platform to "show his strength". Luo Zhenyu said that the current Vietnam is like China in the early 2000s, and the next few years will develop relatively rapidly, and it is necessary to seize the golden time period of Vietnam. Nam Long Group has announced its 2030 strategy and vision, and the company aims to become a leading innovative integrated real estate company in Vietnam. Nanlong Group's vision is highly aligned with Lo's ambitions.

Behind the continuous change of senior executives of real estate enterprises, the old and the new, the old and the young, are alternately staged, behind which are the new adjustments made by enterprises in order to adapt to changes in the market environment. What kind of sparks will burst out in the commercial real estate circle this year?