Privatizing Jinke Services, investing in Starbucks China, acquiring SKP—what kind of game is Boyu Capital playing next?

China Securities Journal, February 20 (Reporter Li Jie) — After more than five years of listing, Jinke Services, once built by the “Southwest Property King” Huang Hongyun, has officially delisted.

Jinke Smart Service Group Co., Ltd. (09666.HK) announced on February 20 that its listing status on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be withdrawn after trading hours. As a result, the company will bid farewell to the Hong Kong stock market.

This company, which once had a market value exceeding HKD 55 billion and was dubbed the “Number One Property in Southwest,” has experienced a series of setbacks including deep industry adjustments, related-party debt defaults, and a halving of its performance. After five years of listing, it has quietly exited, becoming another property service company in the Hong Kong market to complete privatization and delisting.

“A delisting is based on overall strategic considerations. There are no major adjustments to business plans or management structure after delisting,” a person close to Jinke Services told China Securities Journal.

It is noteworthy that Jinke Services’ delisting was not a passive removal due to operational failure but was initiated and driven by its major shareholder, Boyu Capital, through a comprehensive tender offer, representing a voluntary privatization.

Led by private equity (PE) institutions, the privatization of Jinke Services, as risks are gradually eliminated and its property management business enters an independent development track, remains to be seen whether this can become a classic case of capital operation.

From “White Knight” to Controller

From acquiring equity to pushing for delisting, Boyu Capital went through four stages: strategic shareholding, low-cost increased holdings, judicial auction, and comprehensive tender offer, completing full control of Jinke Services in nearly five years.

Initially, Jinke Services was a property management segment under Jinke Holdings, with Huang Hongyun as the actual controller. It was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2020, with an issue price of HKD 44.8 per share. On the first day, its market value exceeded HKD 28 billion, with a P/E ratio once surpassing 80 times.

As part of the “light and heavy separation” strategy of its parent company, Jinke Services’ stock price surged to HKD 85 shortly after listing, with a market value over HKD 55 billion, forming part of the “golden era” of Hong Kong property management stocks alongside Country Garden Services and Greentown Service.

However, after its peak, the company faced a major turn due to the debt crisis of its original parent, Jinke Holdings.

In the second half of 2021, amid industry deep adjustments and liquidity crises, Jinke Holdings transferred 22% of its stake in Jinke Services in December 2021. The buyer was Boyu Capital, which acquired it for HKD 3.734 billion, making Boyu the second-largest shareholder.

At that time, the market believed this move was merely a “lifeline” for Jinke Holdings to ease cash flow, with Huang Hongyun’s side still controlling Jinke Services, and Boyu’s role seen as a financial investor.

But as the parent company’s development business continued to shrink, Boyu gradually moved from behind the scenes to the forefront. In November 2022, Boyu Capital launched a partial tender offer to increase its stake by 11.94% at HKD 12 per share, totaling about HKD 930 million. After the transaction, Boyu’s shareholding rose to 34.63%, becoming the largest shareholder, shifting its role from financial investor to strategic controlling shareholder.

By March 2025, as Jinke Holdings’ debt default continued to ferment, its holdings of Jinke Services shares were forcibly auctioned by the court. Boyu Capital bid HKD 667 million for 108 million shares, further increasing its stake to 55.91%, officially becoming the actual controller of Jinke Services. By then, Boyu had invested over HKD 5.3 billion in total.

After gaining control, Boyu immediately initiated privatization.

On October 31, 2025, Boyu proposed a full tender offer, and on November 18, updated the offer to buy out the remaining circulating shares at HKD 8.69 per share. By January 16, 2026, the offer was accepted by 95.56% of disinterested shareholders, meeting all privatization conditions, leading to the official delisting on February 20.

Thus, Boyu achieved full control of this leading property management company. Before delisting, Jinke Services’ stock price was stable at HKD 8.69, with a market value of about HKD 5.2 billion, evaporating over 90% from its peak.

From a financial perspective, Jinke Services’ 2025 semi-annual report shows total revenue of RMB 2.335 billion, a slight decrease of 3.1% year-on-year, but cash and liquid assets still reached RMB 2.65 billion. The managed area remained around 219 million square meters, indicating the company’s fundamentals still have some resilience.

Regarding Boyu’s motivation for pushing privatization, chief economist of China Enterprise Capital Alliance Bo Wenxi pointed out, “In recent years, Jinke Services’ performance has been under pressure, with a total loss of about RMB 3.4 billion over the past three years, and its market value has shrunk significantly. Its listed platform’s financing and branding functions have been greatly weakened. After Boyu’s holding, they hope to escape the regulatory constraints and market expectations faced by listed companies, thereby improving decision-making efficiency and reducing compliance costs.”

He further stated that post-delisting, Boyu will no longer be constrained by public shareholders, allowing more flexibility in asset disposal, business contraction, or restructuring, gradually transforming Jinke Services into a “cash cow” or “asset package,” leaving more room for subsequent capital exit.

Boyu Capital’s Portfolio

The privatization of Jinke Services exemplifies Boyu Capital’s strategic layout across multiple fields.

From low-profile operations to decisive actions, Boyu Capital demonstrated its depth and patience in strategic deployment through a series of landmark transactions from 2025 to early 2026.

Public information shows that, founded in 2011, Boyu Capital is a private equity fund established by Zhang Zixin, former general manager of Ping An Group, and Ma Xuezhen, former senior executive at TPG Capital China. Its investment scope spans biomedicine, consumer retail, technology internet, real estate, and logistics.

As a top-tier PE deeply rooted in China, Boyu Capital has left its mark in many sectors.

It is known that Boyu’s investment portfolio covers over 200 companies, including early investments in Alibaba’s U.S. listing, holdings in Vanke’s Wanyun Cloud, and investments in Kuaishou, NetEase Cloud Music, Jitu Express, Perfect Diary, Yuanfudao, Huolala, Mixue Bingcheng, Hengrui Medicine, and Haitan Weiye.

Notably, between 2025 and early 2026, Boyu made several large-scale investments, further emphasizing its strategic focus on consumer and retail sectors.

In November 2025, Boyu Capital and Starbucks jointly established a joint venture to acquire a 60% stake in Starbucks China retail business at an enterprise value of about USD 4 billion, with plans to expand the number of stores from about 8,000 to 20,000.

Additionally, in the first half of 2025, Boyu acquired approximately 42–45% of Beijing SKP, a top luxury department store, with a valuation of USD 4–5 billion; in January 2026, it announced plans to acquire a 75% stake in Beijing Badaling Outlets.

According to Tianyancha, Boyu manages 12 private equity funds, including Boyu Haiming (Shanghai) Private Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), and has stakes in 13 external investment funds.

The privatization of Jinke Services also exemplifies its strategic layout in the real estate sector. Some analysts believe that from the initial investment in 2022 to privatization in 2026, Boyu’s exit cycle could span 8 to 10 years.

From a macro perspective, Jinke Services’ delisting reflects the transition of the real estate and property management industry into a stock-reduction phase.

Since 2023, companies like Blue Sky Property Services have completed privatizations or M&A-driven delistings. Similar to Jinke Services, these companies generally face long-term stock price declines below net asset value, loss of refinancing ability, and liquidity crises of their parent companies.

Industry insiders suggest that for controlling shareholders or strategic investors, these property companies choose privatization partly because of low valuation of quality assets in the public market. After reorganization through privatization, they can wait for industry recovery to seek new opportunities.

For Jinke Services, although it delisted from the Hong Kong Exchange in this manner, the company, which once had a market value of over HKD 100 billion, will continue to operate as a non-listed platform. For the orchestrators of this deal, a new game begins.