HONG KONG – New World Development’s third-generation heir Adrian Cheng has completely quit the beleaguered Hong Kong property developer, less than a year after stepping down as chief executive.

Mr Cheng tendered his resignation as a non-executive director and non-executive vice-chairman of New World with effect from July 1 “to devote more time on public services and other personal commitments” and he has no disagreement with the board relating to his resignation, the company said in a stock exchange filing on June 30. 

Mr Cheng’s resignation as CEO in September was rare in Hong Kong’s property industry, where the biggest players are all controlled by families that carefully plan their succession.

Long assumed to be a favourite of the late patriarch, Mr Cheng Yu-Tung, the Harvard-educated Mr Cheng had been seen as the heir apparent of the business group led by his billionaire dad.

But New World has run into trouble since Mr Cheng was elevated to CEO in 2020, four years after his grandfather died. 

During his tenure, New World has sunk deeper into debt than any other major Hong Kong developer, and in 2024 it posted its first annual loss in two decades.

At the end of 2024, net debt reached 96 per cent of shareholder equity, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, making it one of the most leveraged developers in Hong Kong. 

Mr Cheng’s resignation announcement came hours after the developer announced the closing of a record HK$88.2 billion (S$14.3 billion) loan refinancing deal, the largest-ever in the city.

The company successfully refinanced certain of its existing offshore unsecured financial indebtedness, including bank loans, through a new refinancing term loan facility, it said in a separate filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on June 30. BLOOMBERG

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