Behind China Merchants Property's personnel changes: The story of the acquisition of Hong Kong Chuangyi Holdings

Viewpoint Network. Entering April, China Merchants Juyi still has its own business to take care of.

On April 2, China Merchants Juyi held its 11th session of the board of directors, the 5th meeting. After review and deliberation, the meeting approved motions including reducing registered capital, adding the position of vice chairman of the board, the resignation and appointment of directors, and a director also serving as the general manager of an affiliated party.

Regarding registered capital, China Merchants Juyi cumulatively repurchased 6.6262 million shares of the company in 2025 and completed the corresponding cancellation procedures. The company’s total share capital of RMB 1.06 billion was changed to RMB 1.05B. This meeting was one where the board of directors agreed to change the company’s registered capital from RMB 1.06 billion to RMB 1.05B.

Other major matters were all related to personnel changes in the management team, specifically Huang Jian stepping down from positions such as director of the company due to a work transfer; the board agreed to add the vice chairman position, to nominate Pan Jianliang as a candidate director for the 11th session of the board of directors of the company, and to approve that the company’s director and general manager, Chen Zhiheng, concurrently serves as a director and the chairman of the board of Chuangyi Holdings.

Among the aspects drawing the most attention from the market is that, with the adjustments of Pan Jianliang’s and Chen Zhiheng’s positions serving as the key points, China Merchants Juyi and Chuangyi Holdings are linked together in terms of their organizational structure and business dealings.

M&A history

Chuangyi Holdings’ business is mainly concentrated in Hong Kong. Compared with China Merchants Juyi, its visibility in the Mainland market is clearly much lower.

According to the company’s website, Chuangyi Holdings is a property management services provider for public housing in Hong Kong. It provides property management-related services for public and private properties, mainly including general management services, tenancy management (for public housing estates), services for collecting rent and management fees, security guard services, cleaning services, small-scale repair and maintenance services, project management services, and more.

In 2001, Chuangyi Holdings first obtained a property management services contract issued by the Housing Authority, and began providing services to public housing estates (Taiyuan Estate); in 2004, it first obtained a private property management contract and provided services to a private residential estate in Kwun Tong.

Through years of business development, in 2017, Chuangyi Holdings became the largest property management services provider for Hong Kong public housing with a market share of approximately 12.6%, and also became the third-largest property management services provider in the Hong Kong residential property management services market with a market share of approximately 1.5%.

In July 2018, Chuangyi Holdings filed its listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 11 of the same year.

The annual report the following year after listing showed that in fiscal year 2019, the company achieved revenue of RMB 716 million and operating profit of approximately RMB 20.3 million. Compared with the previous year, revenue increased by 7.1% and operating profit decreased by 54.4%, overall showing an earnings growth without profit growth trend, but profitability “b” saw a relatively large decline.

Over the following two years, the company’s revenue scale expanded steadily, and operating profit recorded an increase of approximately 75.7% in fiscal year 2021. The financial report shows that the significant growth in operating profit was mainly because, during the outbreak of the pandemic, the company obtained cleansing service contracts for quarantine centers, thereby promoting business growth.

Source of data: corporate announcements; compiled by Wu Liao She

Just when the market believed Chuangyi Holdings would continue developing along the original trajectory and further become independent in Hong Kong’s property services market, the company published a statement announcing that it was going to be “sold” to China Merchants Group.

In December 2020, Chuangyi Holdings announced that its controlling shareholder, Genesis Group Limited, had signed a memorandum of understanding with China Merchants Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Sinotrans Shipping, for a deal. As a potential buyer, Sinotrans Shipping planned to purchase approximately 268 million shares of Chuangyi Holdings proposed to be sold by Genesis Group Limited, representing approximately 53.51% of the total issued share capital.

The announcement further pointed out that China Merchants Juyi, as an indirect subsidiary of China Merchants Group, might be viewed as a potential buyer under this share purchase agreement. However, it should be noted that before the announcement period, Sinotrans Shipping had not made a final decision regarding the identity of the potential buyer.

China Merchants Juyi’s side stated that the property management business conducted by Chuangyi Holdings is within the company’s principal business scope. For this acquisition opportunity, China Merchants Juyi would conduct a feasibility study and, if needed, carry out work such as due diligence and transaction negotiations.

It can be seen that China Merchants Juyi’s acquisition intent was not yet fully determined, and market-related people also arrived at the key factors for the acquisition through multiple analyses.

On the one hand, Chuangyi Holdings’ uniquely large business scale in Hong Kong would help China Merchants Juyi, after reorganization and integration, to capture more of the Hong Kong property services market, bringing new revenue and profit growth points;

On the other hand, Chuangyi Holdings’ relatively low profit margin may also pull down China Merchants Juyi’s overall profit margin, and in the short term would put pressure on China Merchants Juyi’s profit level.

Three months later, China Merchants Juyi gave a definitive response to this “proposed acquisition” matter—abandoning the equity acquisition opportunity.

“After repeated discussions and taking comprehensive consideration, the company believes that the conditions for implementing this equity acquisition are not mature. Based on the prudent principle, the company has decided to forgo this acquisition project opportunity.”

According to insiders, one of the reasons for abandoning the acquisition opportunity was that Chuangyi Holdings mainly manages Hong Kong public housing, which would involve regional management issues. In addition, factors such as room for profit and business fit meant that Chuangyi Holdings was not the best target for the acquisition at that time.

A few days later, Sinotrans Shipping planned to acquire 53.51% of Chuangyi Holdings’ shares—an aggregate of 268 million shares—through its subsidiary, at a consideration of HK$1.456 per share.

But this does not mean China Merchants Juyi had completely exited the scene.

Sinotrans Shipping stated regarding this acquisition that, to support the development of China Merchants Juyi, if China Merchants Juyi believes the conditions for acquiring Chuangyi Holdings have matured, China Merchants Group would actively coordinate Sinotrans Shipping and its subsidiaries to transfer the Chuangyi Holdings equity they hold to China Merchants Juyi.

Thus, in 2026, when China Merchants Juyi announced that the positions of Pan Jianliang of Chuangyi Holdings and Chen Zhiheng of China Merchants Juyi would be adjusted, the acquisition that seemed to have reached an outcome but still had uncertainties from years earlier once again became the focus of discussion.

A new chapter in personnel

On April 2, China Merchants Juyi released a series of personnel change announcements. The protagonists are Huang Jian, Pan Jianliang, and Chen Zhiheng. Their position changes correspond to one stepping back, one moving in, and one serving concurrently.

Huang Jian resigned from his positions as director of China Merchants Juyi and a member of the nomination and remuneration committee under the board of directors due to a work transfer. After resigning, he would no longer hold any positions.

Pan Jianliang, executive director and general manager of Chuangyi Holdings, was nominated as a candidate director for the 11th session of the board of directors of China Merchants Juyi. The board has proposed to submit the matter to the company’s shareholders’ meeting for election. The term will run from the date on which the company’s shareholders’ meeting approves the election until the end of the current session of the board of directors.

China Merchants Juyi’s director and general manager, Chen Zhiheng, concurrently serves as a director and the chairman of the board of Chuangyi Holdings. Chuangyi Holdings is an affiliated party of the company.

Judging by the two protagonists taking on their new roles, first, Pan Jianliang has been involved throughout the first half of Chuangyi Holdings’ history.

Pan Jianliang was born in 1955 in Hong Kong. He later pursued and obtained a master’s degree in housing management from The University of Hong Kong. From 1979 to 2000, he worked for the Hong Kong Housing Department. The last position he held was deputy housing affairs manager.

After leaving the Housing Department, Pan Jianliang, together with several other former Housing Department employees, founded Chuangyi Property Services Advisory Co., Ltd. At that time, the Hong Kong government gradually outsourced some property management services to private-sector operators. Chuangyi Property, leveraging the founders’ team experience and industry connections, quickly secured a large share of the market.

In 2018, Chuangyi Holdings went public. Pan Jianliang and Li Zhaohua, one of his partners, attended the bell-ringing ceremony. Pan Jianliang served as the executive director and chairman of the board of Chuangyi Holdings, while Li Zhaohua served as the executive director and chief executive officer of Chuangyi Holdings.

After Sinotrans Shipping completed its equity acquisition of Chuangyi Holdings, a large number of Sinotrans Shipping executives entered Chuangyi Holdings’ management team, but Pan Jianliang—now over 70—still serves as the executive director and general manager of Chuangyi Holdings.

If bringing Pan Jianliang from Chuangyi Holdings into the board of directors of China Merchants Juyi was already a clear link tying the two companies together, then simultaneously bringing Chen Zhiheng—who has been rising step by step (rights-protection) at China Merchants Juyi in the past two years—into Chuangyi Holdings may further clarify the direction of their future integration.

Earlier, when Chen Zhiheng was appointed general manager of China Merchants Juyi, some opinions pointed out that he was China Merchants’ widely recognized “hands-on operator,” possessing a dual capability matrix: multi-business-portfolio operation and headquarters-level strategic coordination.

In 2007, Chen Zhiheng joined China Merchants Land. He previously served as assistant to the general manager of the Foshan company of China Merchants Land; deputy general manager of the Foshan company of China Merchants Land; deputy general manager of the Guangzhou company and general manager of the Zhanjiang company; general manager of Changsha; general manager of the operation and management department; and general manager of China Merchants Land Digital City Technology Co., Ltd.

In March 2025, Chen Zhiheng was appointed general manager of China Merchants Juyi. Coupled with the fact that the then chairman of China Merchants Juyi, Lü Bin, had previously also served as general manager of China Merchants Land Digital City Technology Co., Ltd., speculations about China Merchants Juyi’s digital transformation to break through the gross margin issue kept emerging.

In September of the same year, Chen Zhiheng succeeded Lü Bin as the new legal representative of China Merchants Juyi. Chen Zhiheng’s weight in China Merchants Juyi’s key role further increased.

Taken together, it appears that China Merchants Juyi, by tightening its ties with Chuangyi Holdings, is also adding more stakes to develop new ground and expand the company’s reach.

Disclaimer: The content and data in this article have been compiled by Viewpoint based on publicly available information and do not constitute investment advice. Please verify before use.

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