Billionaire Power Couple Steps Down From Leadership At Soho China

Soho China, one of China’s largest and best-known real estate developers, said today co-founding billionaire couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin have stepped down from their leadership roles as chairman and CEO “in order to focus on supporting the arts and philanthropic pursuits.”

Soho said Huang Jingsheng, an independent non-executive director, had been appointed as nonexecutive chairman effective effective today, replacing Pan. Xu Jin and. Qian Ting, long-time executives, would become co-CEOs, succeeding Zhang.

The moves come after U.S. investment firm Blackstone Group offered to purchase the Beijing-headquartered company in a transaction worth $3 billion last year. The purchase later fizzled on “a lack of progress.”

Blackstone had offered HK$5 a share; Soho China closed at HK$1.36 yesterday. Shares shot up by nearly 10% today at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after the new leaders were announced.

The high-profile departures come as China’s economy faces slowing economic growth in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic and heightened geopolitical tension between China and the United States under President Xi Jinping. China’s real estate industry faces years of stress following overbuilding and debt that have cut heavily into the fortunes of the country’s richest property developers.

Founded in 1995, Soho China as of last year owned approximately 1.3 million square meters of real estate, largely in Shanghai and Beijing. Distinctive projects with architect Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016, helped to put the couple and Zhang on the global real estate map.

Soho China most notably made Pan and Zhang are worth a combined $2.8 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today.

@rflannerychina