After five years of deep adjustment, the real estate industry is at a critical juncture. On one hand, a number of developers have proactively broken through by deleveraging through debt restructuring and judicial reorganization, gradually clearing risks. On the other hand, they are actively revitalizing assets and exploring new strategic transformation directions to rebuild competitive moats within the industry. SUNAC has long been regarded as a benchmark for self-rescue among developers, having taken the lead in completing the restructuring of its onshore and offshore public bonds, and essentially finishing the delivery of presold homes. The company has also demonstrated a strong ability to resolve complex problems in project revitalization, being one of the developers that has brought in the most market capital and revitalized its own projects in the sector, achieving notable sales performance. As a result, its every strategic move is closely watched by the market.
On August 24, SUNAC announced that, in response to industry changes and to better align with development trends and policy direction, the company will leverage its resource advantages and competitive strengths to establish "asset management + asset operation" as the direction of its strategic transformation and upgrade. As a key part of the new strategy, SUNAC has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Rongzhe Gongchuang Holdings Limited to acquire 100% of the equity in Jin'er Management, a move that will open up broader long-term development prospects for the company.
Asset management plus construction management: A new model for the property segment emerges
Core businesses of SUNAC include real estate development, property management, and cultural tourism operations. Amid the turbulence in the property sector, its real estate segment has been affected, yet it has shown resilience and forged new capabilities through the cycle. Taking existing asset revitalization as an example, it has become one of the most important topics in the industry, with a large number of distressed assets on the market needing to be activated. Each project often involves complex shareholder structures, creditor-debtor relationships, litigation, resettlement issues, and project restarts, making revitalization a formidable challenge that requires a team with both the will and the capability to tackle the difficulties.
Over the past three years, SUNAC has stood out in the field of existing asset revitalization. Through a fund-like model, it has successfully revitalized premium assets in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, and Wuhan, creating a series of hot projects with strong sales and reputation: in 2024, The Bund One became a top-three national single-project seller; in 2025, Shanghai One topped national sales; and in 2026, Chongqing Bay achieved the best first-sale performance for residential projects in the city in nearly five years. With a string of benchmark projects marking its strong comeback, the SUNAC team's ability to handle the complex issues involved in asset revitalization has earned high recognition from capital providers and the market.
The cooperation between SUNAC and leading AMC institutions such as CITIC Financial Asset Management and China Great Wall Asset Management has also evolved from early-stage project rescue to a strategic partnership of shared value creation, with both depth and breadth of collaboration improving, laying a solid foundation for the strategic transformation. According to the announcement, SUNAC will push forward more clearly with the transformation of its real estate business, moving from the traditional model of integrated investment and development to two business segments: asset management and project construction and operation management, each independently expanding market-oriented businesses while supporting and coordinating with each other. The asset management business will focus on capital integration and investment opportunity discovery in the real estate sector, creating steady investment returns for capital providers and generating asset management income. The construction management business will provide professional construction, operation, and sales services for investment projects of the asset management business and third-party market projects, empowering project value appreciation through a light-asset model and generating service income.
The acquisition of Jin'er Management is taking place against this strategic backdrop. Jin'er Management focuses on the development of light-asset businesses in real estate construction management and asset management, having established a comprehensive business system and currently possessing considerable industry influence and business scale. Within just a few years, Jin'er Management has signed contracts for 73 projects across key regions including Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shanghai, and Jiangsu, showing strong momentum. Overall, the business model of Jin'er Management is highly aligned with the transformation direction of SUNAC's property segment. The acquisition will strengthen the strategic pillars of SUNAC's new strategy, support the implementation of the overall strategic transformation, help SUNAC quickly integrate and enhance its third-party construction management capabilities, and also allow Jin'er Management to leverage its professional strengths and amplify its competitive advantages on a larger platform.
Exploring fund and REITs asset management platforms to drive a synergistic development model
Within the blueprint of the new "asset management + asset operation" strategy, the cultural tourism and property management segments are also important components, having each grown into benchmark brands in their respective fields in recent years. The cultural tourism segment, as one of China's largest holders and operators of cultural tourism assets, covers a diverse range of asset types including commercial properties, indoor ski parks, outdoor theme parks, water parks, aquariums, and hotels. It has cultivated four independent light-asset operation management companies in commercial, snow, theme park, and hotel sectors, which, while rooted in self-owned assets, are actively expanding third-party business. The snow management and hotel management companies have achieved significant breakthroughs in market development, with the number of third-party projects under management exceeding self-owned projects.
The property management segment of SUNAC, listed in 2020 under the independent entity SUNAC Services Holdings Limited, focuses on mid-to-high-end properties in first- and second-tier cities, covering diverse formats such as residential, office buildings, industrial parks, hospitals, and shopping malls, and continues to deepen its product strategy, driving value growth through professionalism. Going forward, the property management and cultural tourism segments of SUNAC will continue to refine their operational management capabilities across various business formats, actively expand third-party business, and explore the establishment of asset management platforms such as funds and REITs, promoting a synergistic development model that combines heavy and light assets with mutual support, in order to achieve the strategic transformation of "asset management + asset operation".
It is understood that multiple developers in the market are currently exploring new transformation paths, and SUNAC is regarded as the most anticipated example, primarily due to its high-quality existing asset base, deep cooperation foundation with leading AMCs, strong appeal in the high-end market, and a resilient team honed through cycles. These multiple advantages combined build a unique moat for SUNAC in the new phase. As the industry reaches a turning point between old and new cycles, developer transformation is entering a critical stage from path exploration to deepening practice. Under the guidance of the new strategy, SUNAC will drive its self-renewal with a dual-platform approach, breaking through its cocoon. Through an increasingly clear business outline, a more imaginative SUNAC is set to emerge steadily, and its future development is worth anticipating.