Large-scale Recall of Departing Employees? Country Garden: Only for a Small Number of Specific Positions This Year's Focus Shifts from Ensuring Project Delivery to Normal Operations

Recently, there have been reports that Country Garden (02007.HK), listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is “recalling a large number of former employees.” In response, Country Garden clarified that there is no special plan involving a “large-scale recall of former employees.” Rehiring is only one of the routine channels to supplement key positions and is conducted only for a small number of specific roles as needed.

It is understood that in January of this year, Country Garden revised and updated its internal document “Rehiring Management Measures for Former Employees,” which is not a newly issued policy. The company stated that it has established a regular internal management review mechanism, which annually reviews and optimizes existing policies based on operational realities and management needs.

Country Garden further stated that some media interpretations are one-sided and overly exaggerated, with certain content not aligning with actual circumstances. The company is steadily advancing core work such as business recovery and ensuring project completion and delivery. Its talent strategy always revolves around the actual needs of the business.

However, regarding rehiring, the document clearly states that rehiring aims to ensure the orderly progress of business, align with the company’s recovery phase and development needs of new projects, and steadily improve key position staffing to support stable business development. It also aims to further regulate the management of re-employment of senior personnel.

The Paper noted that within Country Garden, restoring operations is as important as project delivery. At the monthly management meeting held on March 6, Chairman Yang Huiyan reaffirmed that 2026 will be “the most critical year for the company to transition from project delivery to normal operations.”

Real estate development remains an important business direction for Country Garden. During the meeting, Yang Huiyan also revealed that over the next 3-5 years, the company’s strategic focus will be on “building core competitiveness.” On the product and service side, the company will firmly focus on customer orientation, promote the iteration of the fourth generation of residential products, and leverage its full industry chain advantages to integrate product design, property services, and other segments.

Earlier, The Paper reported that as early as February last year, Chairman Yang Huiyan first proposed at an internal meeting that by the second half of 2025, both project delivery and main structure safety should be prioritized to prepare for the company’s return to normal operations in 2026. In an internal meeting on November 11 last year, Yang Huiyan also first introduced the concept of a “second entrepreneurship.”

The prerequisite for restoring operations is debt restructuring, which has now been largely achieved. By the end of last year, all nine bonds involved in Country Garden’s domestic debt restructuring had received approval from creditors, totaling a balance of 13.77359 billion yuan.

Country Garden previously stated that if all domestic restructuring options are fully subscribed, it is expected to reduce debt principal by over 50%, with a maximum debt term of 10 years, no repayment pressure within five years, bond interest rates reduced to 1%, and interest payments adjusted to “principal first, interest later.”

Regarding offshore debt restructuring, on December 30, 2025, Country Garden’s approximately $17.7 billion offshore debt restructuring officially took effect, with the plan being implemented within the scheduled timeframe. In the first week after the effective date, the company paid about $398 million in cash to participating creditors, accounting for roughly 2% of the total debt principal.

In addition to cash payments, the restructuring plan also offers multiple options such as “new notes + convertible bonds + mandatory exchange bonds” to cater to creditors with different risk preferences.

Since January this year, Country Garden has completed multiple conversions of convertible bonds. On February 16, the company announced that it had issued a total of 41.655 billion shares, with about 13.727 billion new shares issued after the restructuring plan was implemented. According to the share issuance report disclosed on March 5, approximately 14.233 billion new shares were issued post-restructuring, close to 51% of the pre-restructuring issued share capital.

On March 9, Country Garden further announced progress in its offshore debt restructuring, stating that on December 30, 2025, it issued 135.6 million shares to GLA SHK at HKD 0.40 per share under general authorization (for coordination committee expenses).