Published: 2:37pm, 29 Nov 2024Updated: 3:19pm, 29 Nov 2024
New World Development (NWD) will appoint a new CEO to replace Eric Ma Siu-cheung barely two months after a management shake-up, underlining the turmoil at the top of one of Hong Kong’s biggest developers amid a debt crisis and family succession saga.
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The company is expected to name Echo Huang Shaomei to the top job on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. She has been an executive director at NWD since May 2020 and CEO of NWD China Land, the unit that oversees the group’s property assets in mainland China.
Ma, who replaced Adrian Cheng Chi-kong in late September, was tasked with steadying the ship after the group announced a HK$19.7 billion (US$2.53 billion) loss for the year to June 30, the worst since it was founded in 1970. Ma had been the group chief operating officer since 2002 before his promotion.
His resignation comes amid a series of asset sales to the family to lighten the developer’s debt burden, including Thursday’s divestment of its stake in developing the city’s biggest sports complex in Kai Tak. The turmoil is likely to stoke concerns among investors about New World, the Cheng family’s flagship entity.
Chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun’s family is ranked as the third wealthiest in Hong Kong with an estimated fortune of US$22.1 billion, according to Forbes. The family holds a 45.2 per cent stake in NWD.
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