Shui On chairman back in driver's seat as CEO quits

Shui On Land, a mainland developer that has been selling assets to cut debt, said yesterday that chief executive Freddy Lee had quit after less than three years and chairman Vincent Lo Hong-sui would resume a more active role.

Lee also resigned as executive director and managing director with effect from yesterday, the developer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Lo would resume a more active role in the business while the company looked for a new chief executive, it said. Lee was promoted to chief executive in March 2011, replacing Lo.

Shui On has been selling assets as it seeks to pay down debt and improve its cash position. The firm said last month that it would sell a project in Shanghai to China Life Insurance for 3.32 billion yuan (HK$4.2 billion). In November, New York-based Brookfield Property Partners invested US$500 million in Shui On unit Shanghai Xintiandi, which operates the popular entertainment complex in the city.

The developer also sold office premises and parking spaces in a project in Chongqing for 2.4 billion yuan in November.

"The company's business model is not sustainable, and the management is not doing enough to improve it," said Jeffrey Gao, an analyst at Nomura. "Besides its redevelopment projects, the company should work better on residential property sales and not hold on to too many properties in non-core markets."

Shui On sold 16.6 billion yuan of properties last year, almost triple the amount from a year earlier, it said on Tuesday.