A 25-year veteran steps down, financing moves accelerate — Is Xincheng Holdings entering a new development inflection point?

Listing | Zhongfang Network

Review | Li Xiaoyan

Amid deep adjustments in the real estate industry and the dual challenges faced by private housing enterprises—namely financing constraints and transformation pressures—Xincheng Holdings has recently sent a series of key signals: approval for commercial real estate REITs by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, successful issuance of its first private overseas bond in 2026, and the completion of a leadership transition. These interconnected actions reveal the true development picture of this private real estate company—building on a foundation of solid credit, with commercial assets as ballast, and navigating a resilient and forward-looking transformation by easing funding pressures and optimizing governance structures.

As a benchmark for creditworthiness among private real estate firms, Xincheng Holdings’ continuous breakthroughs in financing have become a bright spot in the industry’s winter. In February 2026, the company successfully issued $355 million in overseas bonds, marking the first private overseas financing deal for a Chinese real estate enterprise in 2026; in March, its commercial real estate REITs received approval, with an expected fundraising of 1.625 billion yuan, opening a new channel for equity-based financing. Looking back at 2025, Xincheng Holdings launched an efficient financing combination: issuing three USD bonds totaling $815 million (over 5.6 billion RMB), becoming the first private firm in nearly three years to restart overseas financing; issuing China’s first consumer-held real estate ABS, and three medium-term notes fully guaranteed by ChinaBond, raising a total of 3.65 billion yuan, with domestic and overseas financing channels fully open.

In a market environment in 2025 where overseas bond issuers were mainly central and state-owned enterprises, with private firms nearly absent, Xincheng Holdings has maintained its overseas financing channels primarily due to its valuable credit record of zero defaults in both domestic and international markets. This credit profile is not only the core premise for ChinaBond’s domestic bond guarantees but also a key basis for overseas investors to recognize its debt repayment ability. Despite the higher coupon rates of 11.8%-11.88% compared to the average financing costs of central and state-owned enterprises, the company successfully extended its debt maturity profile by swapping high-yield bonds for short-term maturing debt, postponing the debt repayment pressures of 2025-2026 to 2027-2028, effectively buying time and space to optimize debt structure. Coupled with low-interest domestic medium-term notes, the company’s overall financing cost in the first half of 2025 was controlled at 5.55%, maintaining a stable and manageable financial structure.

The confidence behind the financing breakthrough stems from Xincheng Holdings’ long-term focus on its commercial operation segment. By the end of 2025, the company had opened 178 Wuyue Plaza locations nationwide, with annual commercial operation revenue reaching 14.09 billion yuan, a 10% increase year-over-year, with a gross profit margin exceeding 70%, accounting for 77% of the group’s total gross profit, serving as a core ballast against industry cycle fluctuations. Over the past five years, Wuyue Plaza’s operating income grew from 8.74 billion yuan to 14.09 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of about 13%. The stable cash flow and clear asset ownership provide high-quality collateral for various financing activities and form a core competitive advantage distinct from other private firms.

While the core business continues to grow steadily, Xincheng Holdings actively expands into the light-asset sector, with its agency construction business achieving leapfrog development. In 2025, the company’s new signed construction management area reached 10.61 million square meters, a year-over-year increase of over 50%, ranking eighth in the CRIC agency construction list. Leveraging Wuyue Plaza’s mature commercial operation capabilities, the company has formed a differentiated advantage in commercial complex agency construction, with nearly half of its managed projects being commercial complexes. This strategy avoids fierce competition in residential agency construction and aligns well with its asset structure, injecting new momentum into its transformation.

Alongside the progress in financing, Xincheng Holdings has also carried out an orderly leadership transition. On March 16, the company announced that Executive Director and CEO Lu Xiaoping resigned from all positions, ending his term 14 months early. Born in 1961 and having served Xincheng for 25 years, Lu Xiaoping has witnessed and contributed to key phases of the company’s development, including listing, expansion, and commercial layout. His resignation aligns with normal retirement age and marks the successful completion of management transition, with Wang Xiaosong taking full leadership of governance.

This management change was not sudden. After the October 2025 incident involving related-party misappropriation at Xincheng Yue Service, Lu Xiaoping resigned from his non-executive director role, marking the first step toward improving corporate governance independence. His full departure is a necessary move to meet the company’s transformation needs and promote modern governance, helping to further optimize decision-making efficiency and ensure the continued implementation of the strategic transformation. The company’s announcement clearly states that this personnel change will not negatively impact normal operations. Currently, the process of board member replacement and CEO recruitment is progressing steadily, with smooth management succession, ensuring stability and continuity in strategic execution.

From an industry perspective, Xincheng Holdings, along with a few other private firms like Longfor and Binjiang, maintains a zero-default, non-extension credit bottom line. These companies share common traits: holding high-quality income-generating assets and maintaining stable operational cash flow during sales downturns. Although contract sales in 2025 declined year-over-year due to industry trends, commercial operation revenue grew against the trend. This divergence reflects the company’s strategic choice to shrink residential business and focus on commercial transformation, transitioning from heavy asset development to light-asset operation, and from scale expansion to quality and efficiency.

Currently, the real estate industry is at a critical stage of transitioning from old to new development models. The path to breakthroughs for private firms is challenging but also full of new opportunities. Xincheng Holdings, with its credit foundation, core commercial assets, innovative financing, and governance renewal, has achieved a balance between risk control and accelerated transformation during industry adjustments. In the future, as the commercial REITs realize asset value, agency construction continues to expand, and management efficiency improves, the company is expected to further strengthen its core competitiveness, crossing industry cycles and moving toward a new stage of high-quality, sustainable development.