Country Garden, China’s biggest developer by sales, appoints Yang Huiyan, its richest woman, as co-chairman
- Yang, daughter of company founder Yeung Kwok-keung, will help in day-to-day running of company
- Currently holds a 57.23 per cent stake in the developer
Country Garden, China’s biggest property developer by sales, on Friday appointed Yang Huiyan, the daughter of its founder, Yeung Kwok-keung, as co-chairman.
The company, the latest in a string of Chinese property developers appointing the younger generation to senior roles, informed the Hong Kong stock exchange in a filing of Yang’s new designation. The 37-year-old was previously a vice-chairman at the developer. Yeung, 64, who founded Country Garden in 1992, will remain as its chairman.
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According to the filing, Yang will help her father in the day-to-day work of the group and will be “responsible for the group’s strategic investments and new business exploration based on existing business, such as new retail business, contributing to the company’s sustainable development”.
Yan Yuejin, an analyst at Shanghai-based real estate services company E-House China R&D Institute, said: “Most of the founders of China’s developers started their businesses in 1990s, in their 30s or 40s, and now have reached a certain age, which is usually regarded as an age for retirement in the country.
“A majority of China’s property companies are family businesses, and passing [the control of these companies] to children is a common practise.”
Yang, who is worth US$18.6 billion, is currently ranked as the sixth wealthiest person and the richest woman in China by Forbes.
