Beijing Vantone Real Estate is a Beijing and Tianjin based privately owned real estate company that focuses on luxury properties. They built the popular complex Beijing Central Park. Vantone is lead by Mr. Feng Lun who also founded and heads China Minsheng Bank. In addition he created “CURA” (China Urban Realty Association). Mr Lun is quite connected politically it has been said.
China Overseas Property Development Company or “COLI” in short form is a developer whose roots formed in 1992 in Hong Kong. COLI is involved with just about every possible aspect of development and its tentacles spread far and wide in mainland China. They have received awards for design, photography contests that they sponsor, cultural events and even one from Bloomberg International Property Awards. Youthful Mr. Hao Jianmin leads this state owned behemoth.
Poly Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. is a Guangdong based state owned entity with massive scale and reach. Again, touching every aspect of Chinese real estate in top end commercial properties to residential complexes and a significant property management arm. Poly very successfully IPO’d on the Shanghai market. Poly is a significant holder of unused land in the tens of millions of square acres. I have found Poly’s top management approachable, professional and forward thinking. We hope they focus on Shanghai for future development projects. Poly also owns several entertainment firms that produce both modern manga and traditional Chinese arts materials. Mr. Li Binhai is Poly’s Chairman of the Board.
R&F Properties 广州富力地产 is a Guangdong based private developer led by Mr. Li Silian and Mr. Zhang Li. R&F Properties focuses on advanced design and architecture to differentiate themselves from other Chinese Real Estate Developers. Although a private company, they are well funded through being listed on the Heng Seng exchange in 2005. Besides advanced design, R&F also uses sophisticated financing methods for their many projects.
SOHO China, founded by Pan Shiyi and his wife Zhang Xin is the Sony of Chinese real estate. Sophisticated marketing, design and PR combine with their relaxed work atmosphere (more like Google or Yahoo) to create a very powerful balancing force against the state owned firms that otherwise dominate the Chinese real estate market. Working hand in hand with investment banks and top flight architects, we believe that SOHO has a very strong future even if there were a shakeout in the Chinese developers market. Thumbs up for SOHO.
Beijing Huayuan Group is led by the colorful Mr. Ren Zhiqiang. Mr. Ren is one of the many captains of industry in China to have graduated from an institution of the People’s Liberation Army. He is known to be opinionated and not shy about letting his views be known. Beijing Huayuan Group is known to pay the highest executive salaries of all Chinese developers and Mr. Ren tops the list at over a million usd/year salary. Ren’s favorite quote is said to be Deng Xiaoping’s “It is glorious to be rich”.
