Vanke Group, a real estate enterprise, has once again borrowed 20.64 billion yuan (RMB) from its major shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group, in order to repay debts. This year alone, Shenzhen Metro Group has provided Vanke with a total loan of 259.41 billion yuan.
In an announcement titled “Regarding Shenzhen Metro Group Providing a Loan of Not More Than 20.64 Billion Yuan to the Company and Related Transactions,” Vanke stated that, through negotiation, Shenzhen Metro Group, which holds a 27.18% stake in Vanke, will provide a loan not exceeding 20.64 billion yuan to the company. The loan will have a term of no more than 3 years with an interest rate of 2.34%.
According to reports from “First Financial,” including this latest loan, Shenzhen Metro Group has provided Vanke with a total loan of 259.41 billion yuan so far this year.
Vanke announced that the purpose of this loan is to repay the principal and interest of bonds issued by Vanke in the public market.
As of August 22, Vanke’s financial report for the first half of 2025 revealed that the company achieved operating income of 105.32 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a 26.2% year-on-year decrease. The net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of 11.947 billion yuan, a 21.3% decrease compared to the same period last year, showing an increase from the net loss of 9.8 billion yuan in the first half of the previous year.
The announcement also indicated that Vanke’s net debt ratio is 90.4%, an increase of 9.8 percentage points from the end of 2024.
During the annual shareholders’ meeting in 2024 held on June 27th, Vanke disclosed that as of July 2025, there was still approximately 22.75 billion yuan in outstanding debts to be repaid.
On September 16, “Anti-Short” by Beijing Century Hui Bo Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. pointed out that Vanke is currently facing three major crises.
Firstly, Vanke’s biggest crisis is its losses. In 2024, the net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of 49.478 billion yuan, making it the A-share listed company with the largest disclosed loss in the 2024 annual report. Compared to a profit of 12.163 billion yuan in 2023, this represents a 506.8% year-on-year decrease. In the first quarter of 2025, the net loss attributable to shareholders of the listed company reached 6.25 billion yuan. The loss in the same period of 2024 was only 0.362 billion yuan, increasing significantly. Massive losses mean that Vanke cannot resolve its debts through its own operations.
Secondly, there is a growing amount of debt accumulating. Vanke’s financial report shows that by the end of 2024, the total debt was 947.4 billion yuan, including interest-bearing debt of 381.9 billion yuan, which increased by 38.6 billion from the previous year. Non-current liabilities due within one year amounted to 146.046 billion yuan. In 2025, Vanke will face a peak in debt repayment.
Lastly, there is a liquidity crisis, which is currently Vanke’s biggest challenge. Vanke’s 2024 annual report shows that the core data of the cash flow statement indicates a net cash flow from operating activities of -11.82 billion yuan for the whole year, showing a rare deficit. This indicates that the core real estate sales cannot cover the huge daily expenses and debt repayment through its own operations. By the end of the first quarter of 2025, Vanke held cash funds of 75.5 billion yuan. Total interest-bearing debt amounted to 365.87 billion yuan. The asset-liability ratio was 73.5%. In terms of short-term debt, excluding restricted cash, the available cash cannot cover short-term debt, which is the main reason why Shenzhen Metro continuously injects funds into Vanke.
“Anti-Short” believes that Vanke’s dilemma is a microcosm of the collective predicament of Chinese real estate companies. The “golden age” of high leverage and high turnover is gone for good. Vanke’s problems reflect the typical dilemma of a real estate enterprise overly reliant on high turnover, high leverage models and failing to achieve expected strategic transformations under systemic industry risks.