Short-term performance is under pressure; isn't empowering state-owned enterprises the key to Greentown's breakthrough?

Ask AI · How Geng Zhongqiang’s financial expertise can help Greentown optimize its asset structure?

Produced by | Zhongfang Network

Reviewed by | Li Xiaoyan

On March 30th, Greentown China announced a management restructuring: Guo Jiafeng resigned as CEO due to retirement, and senior China Communications Construction (CCCC) executive Geng Zhongqiang took over as acting CEO, fully overseeing daily operations. This leadership change coincides with the 2025 performance disclosure period, representing not only a governance upgrade amid industry deep adjustments but also a key move by the major shareholder CCCC to deepen strategic dominance and help Greentown navigate cycles. It marks Greentown’s entry into a new development phase characterized by “central enterprise empowerment + quality foundation + prudent management.”

This personnel adjustment is a strategic continuation of CCCC’s efforts to strengthen Greentown’s governance, directly implementing the idea of “enhanced control, risk prevention, and support for development.” On March 17th, Song Hailiang, Party Secretary and Chairman of CCCC, emphasized during a visit to Greentown that more development support would be provided, governance controls strengthened, and efforts made to promote market-oriented, international, and legal development, solidifying risk prevention systems. This leadership change precisely implements that strategy, pushing Greentown from capital control to a stage of full operational dominance.

Post-adjustment, Greentown’s core decision-making and management have shifted to be dominated by CCCC: Chairman Liu Chengyun and acting CEO Geng Zhongqiang are both senior CCCC executives, forming a “strategic steering + operational execution” core. Coupled with Party Secretary Zhao Hui, who previously joined, CCCC now fully covers Greentown’s core areas of strategy, operations, and party-building, creating a more unified, efficient, and collaborative governance structure.

From an industry perspective, this is a benchmark practice in optimizing governance for mixed-ownership real estate companies. As the largest shareholder holding 28.97%, CCCC has achieved deep integration of “equity + governance” through personnel restructuring, continuing Greentown’s product advantages while injecting the stable genes, resource advantages, and risk control systems of a central enterprise, providing a replicable model for industry players during periods of adjustment.

The new appointee, Geng Zhongqiang, is a “dual-track veteran” with over 30 years of experience in real estate, and a financial and management expert cultivated within CCCC. At 53, he holds a bachelor’s degree in finance, a master’s in business management, and a senior accountant qualification. He joined CCCC in 1995, starting from grassroots finance roles, and has served as Deputy Chief Accountant of CCCC Tunnel Engineering Bureau, General Manager of China Real Estate Group, and President of CCCC Real Estate, accumulating nearly three decades of strong financial risk management, resource coordination, and group operation capabilities.

In July 2019, Geng was parachuted into Greentown as Executive Director and CEO, actively participating in company decision-making for nearly seven years, becoming a key link between CCCC and Greentown. During his tenure, he led restructuring of financial systems and diversified financing, successfully issuing $500 million in bonds in 2023, marking the restart of Chinese real estate dollar bonds; he also fully supported Greentown’s listing process, consolidating its leading position in the construction agency industry. His pragmatic, risk-averse management style aligns closely with Greentown’s current focus on “steady operation, efficiency improvement, and risk prevention.”

In contrast to the retiring Guo Jiafeng—an “old Greentown” backbone who joined in 2000, grew locally, and worked on the front lines—Guo’s retirement signifies a further fading of Greentown’s “founder-led” management style. The company is officially moving from a founder-dominated, professional-manager model into a stage of comprehensive, in-depth governance by the major shareholder, with a governance structure better suited to industry deep adjustments.

This change coincides with the 2025 performance disclosure: Greentown’s annual revenue was 154.97B yuan, a slight decrease of 2.26% year-on-year; attributable profit was 71 million yuan, a sharp drop of 95.55%, attracting market attention. However, a detailed analysis shows that profit decline is a proactive response during industry adjustment, not operational disorder, and the long-term foundation remains solid.

The core reasons for the significant profit drop are threefold: first, to accelerate inventory clearance, the company adopted a strategy of offering discounts, squeezing short-term profit margins; second, prudently provisioning 4.92B yuan for asset impairments to strengthen asset quality; third, performance drag from joint ventures and associates, a common industry issue. This “price-to-volume exchange, inventory reduction, and impairment provisioning” approach, while impacting short-term profits, enables the company to operate more lightly and optimize its asset structure, clearing obstacles for long-term steady growth.

More notably, despite performance pressure, Greentown’s core indicators remain resilient: total contracted sales reached 251.9 billion yuan, maintaining a leading position in the industry; self-invested projects sold 153.4 billion yuan, and agency construction projects sold 98.5 billion yuan, forming a balanced pattern of heavy and light assets. Financial safety margins continue to improve, with short-term debt ratio dropping to a record low of 18.6%, and cash-to-short debt ratio reaching 2.6 times, placing the company among the top risk-resilient firms. Meanwhile, the company is focusing on land acquisitions in core cities like Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Xi’an, with improved investment precision, preparing high-quality momentum for future performance recovery.

This leadership change is not just personnel reshuffling but a milestone in Greentown’s strategic transformation. Under Geng Zhongqiang’s leadership, leveraging CCCC’s central enterprise credit, resource synergy, and risk control system, the company aims to address three key issues: first, deepen inventory clearance and asset optimization to accelerate lightening operations; second, strengthen financial control and cost efficiency to restore profitability; third, coordinate dual engines of self-investment and agency construction to consolidate its high-end market and leading position in the agency sector.

For the industry, this adjustment has benchmark significance: in the new stage of shifting from scale expansion to quality development, central enterprise empowerment of private real estate firms and governance deepening can leverage the vitality and product strength of private companies while injecting the stable genes and resource support of central enterprises, creating a “1+1>2” synergy effect.

In the short term, Greentown still faces challenges in destocking, profit improvement, and cash flow stabilization; but in the long run, with the full implementation of CCCC governance, ongoing asset structure optimization, and the gradual transfer of high-quality projects, the company’s profit recovery and high-quality development are worth expecting. This leadership change is not the end but a new starting point for Greentown’s “quality-based, steady, central enterprise-empowered, cycle-crossing” journey. Under Geng Zhongqiang’s leadership, Greentown is expected to emerge from the adjustment pain and move toward a more sustainable, high-quality development path.