Geely has made personnel adjustments and Li Donghui has been appointed CEO of the group. Is Li Shufu going to make another big move?

Information released by Geely Holding Group on December 1 shows that Li Donghui, the former group executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO), has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

This position has previously been held concurrently by Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group. At the same time, An Conghui's positions as President of Geely Holding and President and CEO of Geely Automobile have not changed.

Some people may ask, after this adjustment, who has greater authority, Li Donghui or An Conghui?

From the perspective of corporate management, there is no clear ownership relationship between the CEO and the president. Therefore, Li Donghui’s promotion is considered to be Li Shufu sharing power with Li Donghui and intending to transfer financial investment to Business moves to a higher level.

It is reported that this appointment was announced within Geely Group on November 27. Li Donghui, who previously served as the group's CFO, is considered an important operator of Geely's overseas investments and acquisitions in recent years.

It is understood that Li Donghui has served as Geely’s vice president and CFO since April 2011, and served as the company’s executive director from May 2011 to March 2014.

Prior to this, Li Donghui served successively as general manager of the project office of BMW Brilliance and director of Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd., director of Jinbei General Motors Co., Ltd., director, senior vice president and financial director of BMW Brilliance Automotive Co., Ltd. , General Manager and Executive Director of the China Region of Cummins Generator Division of the United States, Vice President and Financial Director of Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd., etc.

Different from Li Donghui, An Conghui is more like a targeted trainee, and the trainee is Li Shufu.

An Conghui graduated from Hubei University of Economics and Management in 1996. In February of the same year, he joined the Geely Group's Audit Office as an auditor. In July of the same year, he was transferred to the Assistant to the Chief Commander of the Infrastructure Engineering Department of Geely Group and later served as the Chief Commander and Assistant to the Chairman.

In May 2000, An Conghui was transferred to Ningbo Meiri Automobile Co., Ltd. as general manager. In December 2003, he served as director and president of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. and general manager of Zhejiang Geely Automobile Co., Ltd. in 2011. On December 30, 2018, he served as President of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and President and CEO of Zhejiang Geely Automobile Group.

Unlike Li Shufu, who is known as the "car maniac", An Conghui has always presented himself as a rational professional manager. His complementary personality is one of the reasons why he stands out among Li Shufu's many "fellow executives" one.

As the president of Geely Holding Group, CEO and president of Geely Automobile Group, An Conghui has now become Geely’s No. 2 figure.

Looking at the auto market, every time a car company makes a major personnel adjustment, something big will happen. With this round of personnel adjustments, is it possible that Li Shufu is launching a new grand strategy?

Currently, Geely Automobile has become a leading brand among independent car companies. The latest data shows that Geely sold more than 140,000 vehicles in October, reaching 140,026 vehicles, a month-on-month increase of approximately 11% and a year-on-year increase of approximately 8%.

As of the end of October 2020, Geely Automobile’s global cumulative sales exceeded 10 million units, becoming the first Chinese independent brand car company to achieve production and sales of 10 million passenger cars.

However, due to various factors since 2019, Geely's profitability has declined sharply. Geely's performance fell sharply by 34.67% in 2019. In the first three quarters of this year, Geely Holdings achieved a net profit attributable to the parent company of 3.087 billion yuan, year-on-year. Down nearly 50.

On November 27, Standard & Poor's confirmed the long-term issuer credit rating and senior unsecured note issuance rating of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. and Geely Automobile (00175.HK) as "BBB-", and All ratings were removed from the watch list and the rating outlook remained negative.

S&P believes that Geely Holding will continue to face leverage pressure in the next 12-24 months due to high capital expenditures, potential economic fluctuations and the uncertain timing of the IPO of subsidiary Geely Automobile.

Currently, Geely Holding has 9 domestic bonds with an ongoing scale of 17.041 billion yuan, of which more than 4 billion bonds will mature within one year, and most of the bond redemption periods are concentrated in 2022.

Geely Holdings still has 5 overseas debts with an existing scale of US$1.75 billion. In 2021, it will face the maturity pressure of a total of US$650 million in overseas bonds.

A few more words

In terms of employment, Li Shufu is quite controversial. The de-familialization ten years ago gave Li Shufu a reputation as ungrateful; now a series of cups of wine have revealed that The military power will probably bear the reputation of betraying a group of important ministers. However, judging from the results, Li Shufu's ruthlessness in employing people may not be a bad thing for Geely's long-term development.

The adjustment of Geely Group’s top management may indicate that Geely will begin to vigorously promote new business planning and operations. Li Donghui, who has a background in finance, mergers and acquisitions, may have greater authority.

Li Donghui, who is good at financial investment, is expected to build financial investment into another core business segment of Geely Holding after gaining more authority.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.