China’s real estate giant Vanke is currently embroiled in a debt crisis, and the former chairman of the board, Yu Liang, who retired at the beginning of this month, has reportedly been out of contact for about half a month.
Observations from mainland Chinese media such as Guancha.cn and Caixin.com reported on January 28 that Yu Liang is suspected to have lost contact.
Earlier, on January 8, Vanke announced that due to reaching retirement age, Yu Liang submitted a written resignation report to the company’s board of directors on the same day, requesting to resign from the positions of director and executive vice president of the company. After stepping down from these positions, Yu Liang will no longer hold any positions within the company.
According to Guancha.cn’s report, there was a nuanced market reaction on the day Yu Liang publicly announced his resignation. Just before his reported disappearance, there were rumors within the industry that Yu Liang’s retirement arrangement was for the purpose of a better investigation.
The report did not specify the details of the investigation into Yu Liang, nor did it disclose which entity was conducting the investigation.
It also stated that Yu Liang’s photo had been removed from the management team page on Vanke’s official website. Vanke Group has declined to comment on Yu Liang’s recent activities.
Yu Liang, born in 1965, graduated from Peking University and joined Vanke Group founded by Wang Shi in 1990. Yu Liang was in charge of securities and investment affairs. Two years after joining, he became the company’s corporate secretary. In 1993, he led the listing of Vanke’s Class B shares. The following year, he joined Vanke’s board of directors. In 2001, he officially became Vanke’s general manager, taking on the full responsibility of the company’s daily operations and becoming Wang Shi’s most trusted deputy.
From 2015 to 2017, Vanke went through the sensational “Vanke Equity Dispute” crisis in the capital market. After the “Baoneng Incident” was settled, Wang Shi withdrew from Vanke’s board of directors. In 2017, Yu Liang officially took over as chairman of Vanke’s board of directors, concurrently serving as CEO and chief executive officer.
In 2023, Vanke faced a debt crisis amidst a sluggish real estate market. In 2024, Vanke’s net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company amounted to a record-breaking loss of 49.478 billion RMB.
On April 1, 2024, an article titled “Reflection on Yu Liang’s Manipulation of Vanke for Personal Gain” was published on the public account of “Yantai Wanlin Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd.” The article alleged issues such as fund misappropriation, usury, tax evasion, and money laundering in Vanke’s cooperation.
In early 2025, Vanke underwent a comprehensive restructuring of its management team, with Yu Liang stepping down from the position of chairman of the board of directors, retaining only the positions of director and executive vice president. Xin Jie, chairman of Shenzhen Metro Group, succeeded as chairman; by February, the Shenzhen State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission took full control of Vanke.
According to the “Daily Economic News,” there were internal rumors circulating within Vanke that when Yu Liang transferred to the executive vice president role in early 2025, he initially intended to resign from all positions but was persuaded to stay.
Against the backdrop of the continuing downturn in China’s real estate market, Vanke is currently burdened with around 50 billion US dollars in high debts. Vanke approached the edge of debt default at the end of last year, intending to hold a creditors’ meeting to extend two debts totaling 5.7 billion RMB on January 21. The first round of voting may not have passed entirely, but it was eventually approved on January 27, providing Vanke with some breathing room in the first quarter of this year.