--- title: "He Xiangjian: founder and actual controller of Midea Group" language: en canonical: https://dossiertwist.com/dossiers/midea/he-xiangjian/ as_of: 2026-10-02 keywords: ["Midea Group","美的集团","He Xiangjian","Midea Holding","Fang Hongbo","KUKA","Midea Real Estate","Guangdong Midea Electric","GD Midea Air-Conditioning Equipment","Annto","Hiconics","CLOU Electronics","Wandong Medical","Teka Industrial","Arbonia Climate","Midea America","H-share listing","related-party transactions","Whirlpool ITC investigation","Orient Household Appliances"] --- # He Xiangjian: founder and actual controller of Midea Group - Also known as: 何享健 **Question.** What is He Xiangjian's role in Midea Group and in the other companies the record links to him? **Answer.** He Xiangjian set up in 1968 the township enterprise that Midea's prospectus calls the group's predecessor, and Midea's filings name him as actual controller of Midea Group: he holds 94.55% of the controlling shareholder Midea Holding and 0.42% of Midea Group directly. Fang Hongbo succeeded him as chairman of Midea Group in August 2012, and Midea's 2025 annual report gives his occupation as chairman of Midea Holding. ## Founder of the business - Analysis: He Xiangjian is the founder named in Midea Group's H-share prospectus: in 1968 he led a group of Beijiao residents in setting up a township enterprise making plastic and metal products, which the prospectus calls the group's predecessor; he later led Midea Electric through a shareholding reform in 1992 and to its Shenzhen listing in 1993. On 4 January 2001 the Midea trade union committee signed contracts transferring an aggregate 22.85% of the company, then a limited liability company, to He and four other individuals. In a commitment dated 28 March 2013 Midea Holding and He undertook to bear any loss to Midea Group arising from a dispute over that transfer, and on 28 June 2013 the Beijiao Town Federation of Trade Unions, the committee's superior body, confirmed that the committee's council had been entitled to dispose of its property without the unanimous consent of all employee members; Midea's 2025 annual report states that the transfer has caused no dispute or loss. [src-d015] [src-d389] [src-d012] [src-d021] - Analysis: According to the prospectus, the company was incorporated on 7 April 2000 as Shunde Meituo Investment Co., Ltd., and He became its controlling shareholder after several rounds of share transfers and capital injections that took its registered capital to RMB 100 million; in October 2002 he transferred all his equity interest in it to Midea Holding, of which he is the controlling shareholder and ultimate beneficial owner. A commercial company-data service's profile, which cites no source, states that he stepped down as chairman of Midea Group on 26 August 2012 and describes him as chairman of Midea Holding and honorary chairman of the Guangdong Hede Charity Foundation. The official record agrees with the profile on the 1968 origin and the 1980 start of fan production, both in the prospectus, and on the August 2012 handover: the 2013 merger report summary states that Fang Hongbo succeeded him as chairman that month. The exact day of 26 August 2012 appears only in the profile; Midea's 2025 annual report dates Fang Hongbo's current term as chairman and president from 25 August 2012. [src-d015] [src-d080] [src-d401] [src-d021] [src-d072] ## How he controls Midea Group - Analysis: Midea's 2025 annual report names He Xiangjian as actual controller and Midea Holding Co., Ltd. as controlling shareholder, gives his principal occupation as chairman of Midea Holding and records no change in either during 2025; the 2026 interim report records none in the first half of 2026. The report's chart shows He holding 94.55% of Midea Holding, Midea Holding 28.55% of Midea Group and He 0.42% directly, and states that he does not control the company through a trust or other asset-management arrangement. Midea's announcement of 7 May 2026 on a convertible-bond issue shows him holding 31,909,643 A shares (0.42%) directly. Lu Deyan, described in Midea's filings as his daughter-in-law, holds the rest of Midea Holding; the prospectus states that they are not parties acting in concert in respect of their interests in Midea Holding. [src-d021] [src-d155] [src-d142] [src-d015] [src-d401] - Analysis: The September 2024 prospectus describes Midea Holding as an investment holding company incorporated on 5 August 2002 and states that, besides Midea Group, Midea Holding and He also control companies in investment management, property management, hotel management, hospital management, healthcare management services and arts and culture, and that neither holds an interest in a business competing with the group that would require disclosure under Rule 8.10 of the Hong Kong Listing Rules. On 28 March 2013 they gave non-competition and independence undertakings, which the 2025 annual report lists as long-term undertakings with no breach. Listings of a commercial company-data service show He as executive director and legal representative of Midea Holding, a title that differs from the chairmanship given in Midea's 2025 annual report, and as chairman and legal representative of Foshan Shunde Midea Development Co., Ltd.; the listings give no appointment dates, and no filing in the record confirms these entries. [src-d012] [src-d015] [src-d021] [src-d051] [src-d080] ## Other listed companies and family - Analysis: Midea's 2025 annual report lists the listed companies in China and abroad that He Xiangjian has controlled in the past ten years: Midea Group, Hiconics, Wandong Medical, CLOU Electronics and Midea Real Estate, and the since-delisted KUKA (2022), Little Swan (2019) and Welling Holding (2018); Midea's 2020 annual report already listed Hiconics in that category. According to a media report, Midea Group bought control of Wandong Medical in 2021, and media summaries of CLOU announcements state that Midea Group became CLOU's controlling shareholder with 22.79% on 2 June 2023, with He Xiangjian as actual controller; Midea's 2025 annual results describe CLOU as acquired in 2023. [src-d021] [src-d026] [src-d441] [src-d165] [src-d004] [src-d341] - Attributed: A media report of 27 March 2026 stated that Midea Group bought the 29.09% stake in Wandong Medical in 2021 from Yuyue Medical (鱼跃医疗) and its actual controller, becoming controlling shareholder with He Xiangjian as actual controller; that China Resources had earlier been Wandong's actual controller and that Yuyue Technology (鱼跃科技) took control in 2015; and that under Midea, Wandong had three chairmen: the first served about four years, the second, Ma Chibing, served from 21 May 2025 to 25 January 2026 and left for personal reasons, and Wang Jianguo was elected chairman on 26 January 2026. [src-d341] [src-d021] - Qualification: Media account; the report names Yuyue Medical as the 2021 seller and Yuyue Technology as the controlling shareholder from 2015, and the exact selling entity was not checked against filings. - Outcome: Midea's 2025 annual report records the group's direct holding in Wandong Medical as 45% at the end of 2025 and describes Wang Jianguo as chairman of Wandong Medical. - Analysis: A media report and a commercial data-service profile describe He Jianfeng as He Xiangjian's son; no Midea or Midea Real Estate filing in the inspected record states the relationship. A media report of December 2025 stated that at an analyst meeting in May 2025 Fang Hongbo said six or seven people could already succeed him at any time but that he could not name them and had not yet told the major shareholder; none of the filings reviewed designates a successor. [src-d052] [src-d087] [src-d030] [src-d021] - Attributed: A media report of December 2025 stated that at an analyst meeting in May 2025 Fang Hongbo, chairman and president of Midea Group, said that six or seven people were already able to succeed him at any time but that he could not name them and had not yet told the major shareholder. A media report of June 2024, noting that Fang had succeeded founder He Xiangjian as chairman and president in 2012, described vice president Wang Jianguo, then head of the smart home business group and international business, as considered one of the leading candidates to succeed Fang. [src-d030] [src-d052] [src-d021] - Qualification: Media accounts of a remark and of market opinion; none of the company filings reviewed designates a successor. - Outcome: Midea's 2025 annual report records Wang Jianguo as executive president from 24 September 2025, the date on which his vice-presidency ended; the report does not describe the appointment as a succession arrangement. ## Sources - [src-d015] Midea Group H-share prospectus: History and corporate structure, Midea Group Co., Ltd. H-share prospectus of 9 September 2024, 2024-09-09 - [src-d389] Shenzhen Stock Exchange notice on the change of name and short name of GD Midea Group Co., Ltd. (000527), Shenzhen Stock Exchange, 2004-06-23 - [src-d012] Midea Group H-share prospectus: Relationship with our largest group of shareholders, Midea Group Co., Ltd. H-share prospectus of 9 September 2024, 2024-09-09 - [src-d021] Company statement source · src-d021 - [src-d080] Corporate registry source · src-d080 - [src-d401] Company statement source · src-d401 - [src-d072] Midea Group poll results of the 2025 annual general meeting held on 5 June 2026, Midea Group Co., Ltd. (filed on HKEXnews), 2026-06-05 - [src-d155] Midea Group 2026 interim report, Midea Group Co., Ltd. (filed on CNINFO), 2026-08-29 - [src-d142] Midea Group announcement on the proposed issue of guaranteed convertible bonds due 2027 and 2033, Midea Group Co., Ltd. (filed on HKEXnews), 2026-05-07 - [src-d051] Corporate registry source · src-d051 - [src-d026] Company statement source · src-d026 - [src-d441] Media source · src-d441 - [src-d165] Media source · src-d165 - [src-d004] Midea Group annual results announcement for the year ended 31 December 2025, Midea Group Co., Ltd. (filed on HKEXnews), 2026-03-30 - [src-d341] Media source · src-d341 - [src-d052] Media source · src-d052 - [src-d087] Corporate registry source · src-d087 - [src-d030] Media source · src-d030