:New World Development’s CEO Eric Ma is expected to step down, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, just two months after taking over the top job at the Hong Kong-based loss-making and indebted property developer.
New World has struggled to recover from a drop in property demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic while also facing a prolonged slump in retail markets and surging interest rates.
The announcement of Eric Ma’s resignation could come as soon as Friday afternoon, the Bloomberg report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The report did not say whether or not Eric Ma would remain with the company or who would be the new CEO.
New World did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Eric Ma was previously the chief operating officer of New World and took over as CEO in September, replacing Adrian Cheng, the third-generation scion of the firm’s founding family.
Cheng’s resignation came alongside the company reporting a net loss of HK$19.7 billion ($2.53 billion) for the financial year ending June.
New World, which has the highest debt among its Hong Kong peers, has said it would dispose of non-core assets worth HK$13 billion but not consider a rights issue.
($1 = 7.7843 Hong Kong dollars)