OREANDA-NEWS. Fitch Ratings expects Nan Fung International Holdings Limited's (Nan Fung; BBB/ Stable) investment focus to continue following changes in the board and management. Fitch was informed of these personnel changes in a meeting with Nan Fung earlier this month.

Ms Vivien Chen, daughter of Nan Fung founder Dr Chen Din Hwa, resigned from her position as chairman and managing director of the group on 31 March 2016. She has been appointed non-executive honorary chairman, and will no longer be involved in day-to-day affairs. Mr Antony Leung has been appointed group chairman and CEO, having been CEO since February 2014. Vincent Cheung, son of Ms Chen and who has been with the firm since 2009, has been appointed group chief operating officer and managing director.

Fitch believes Nan Fung will continue to expand its recurring rental income from investment properties (IP). Nan Fung's completed IP attributable gross floor area (GFA) in China has expanded to 6.0 million square feet (sq ft) with rental income of HKD803m from China as of March 2016. That was a 2.6x increase in attributable GFA from 2.3 million sq ft, and a 6.2x rise in rental income from HKD128m from China IP since 2014. As of March 2016, Nan Fung's total completed IP attributable gross floor area (GFA) was 8.2 million square feet (sq ft) with total rental income of HKD1,387m.

The chairman's resignation should have no impact on Nan Fung's rating, given its prudent financial profile and strong track record in developing residential and commercial properties in Hong Kong for over 50 years. The company has also demonstrated its ability to ride the economic cycles and maintain a stable financial assets portfolio of around HKD20bn, aided by its strong capital structure that gives it greater operational flexibility in terms of timing investment decisions. Nan Fung's prudence is reflected in its highly liquid financial profile, low net gearing of 5.3% at March 2016 (as stated by the company), and gradual expansion of its IP portfolio.