Chen Qiyu and Xu Xiaoliang, Executive Directors and Co-CEOs of Fosun International win Asia’s Best CEO from Corporate Governance Asia

Fosun International also receives Asia’s Best CSR and Best Corporate Communications Awards

On 11 January 2023, the Corporate Governance Asia magazine presented the 12th Asian Excellence Award. Chen Qiyu and Xu Xiaoliang, Executive Directors and Co-CEOs of Fosun International Limited (“Fosun International” or “Fosun” or the “Group”) (HKEX: 00656) were both honoured Asia’s Best CEO. In addition, Fosun International was awarded Asia’s Best CSR and Best Corporate Communications awards.

The awards recognize entrepreneurs who have demonstrated strong social responsibility and companies that have fully supported the fight against the pandemic

Corporate Governance Asia is one of the most authoritative corporate governance journals in the Asian-Pacific region. It presents the Asian Excellence Award for recognizing companies that are excelled in financial performance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, environmental protection, corporate communication and investor relations. This year, the 12th Asian Excellence Award is themed on “Leadership: Reigniting Asia”. The awards are designed to recognize entrepreneurs who have demonstrated strong social responsibility under the pandemic, companies that have fully supported the fight against the pandemic, and teams that have actively disseminated good ESG stories and companies that have actively promoted global sustainable development.

According to Corporate Governance Asia, the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the world for three years has posed huge challenges for companies around the world. Nonetheless, many companies have shown strong resilience and adaptability during the pandemic, and their businesses, financial and operational indicators have all shown a steady recovery trend; in addition to actively responding to the challenges of the pandemic. Some of the companies have fully supported the fight against the pandemic, and tided over the difficulties with the whole society, demonstrating a strong sense of social responsibility and mission.

Corporate Governance Asia pointed out that, Fosun International is one of the companies with outstanding performance during the pandemic, and Mr. Chen Qiyu and Mr. Xu Xiaoliang, as CEOs of a large global private enterprise, have been leading Fosun International to support the anti-epidemic work at home and abroad, taking social responsibility and acting as a role model for large private listed companies. In addition, Corporate Governance Asia pointed out that Mr. Chen Qiyu and Mr. Xu Xiaoliang were awarded Asia’s Best CEO in recognition of their contribution to enhancing Fosun International’s corporate governance, increasing shareholders’ value, driving the Group’s rapid growth and building interactive and informative relationships with various stakeholders, including shareholders, investors, and the media. 

Chen Qiyu, Executive Director and Co-CEO of Fosun International, said, “We are very honoured to receive several awards from Corporate Governance Asia, including Asia’s Best CEO and Asia’s Best CSR. The awards belong not only to individuals but also to the entire Fosun team, which are recognition of the work of the Group. Fosun has always believed in doing the right things, the difficult things and the things need time to develop. At the beginning of the pandemic, we cooperated with BioNTech, a German biotechnology company to jointly develop the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (COMIRNATY^®), which provided strong support for defeating the pandemic. In addition, Fosun Pharma and Genuine Biotech have jointly developed and exclusively commercialized Azvudine, China’s first domestically made small molecular oral medication for COVID-19, which has been widely used in the fight against the epidemic in various regions. Looking ahead, Fosun will adhere to its strategic leadership and leverage the advantages brought by its long-term accumulation of core competencies to promote faster and better development of the Group, endeavoring to extend human’s life expectancy to 121 years.”

Xu Xiaoliang, Executive Director and Co-CEO of Fosun International, said, “Looking back on the past three years, the battle between human-beings and COVID-19 pandemic has become protracted. Fosun is deeply honoured to be able to contribute to the mitigation of the pandemic and enhancement of human health in this once-in-a-century battle between humans and viruses. Fosun is both a practitioner and beneficiary of globalization. Firstly, globalization has allowed Fosun to introduce global products to domestic families and introduce domestic products to global consumers. Secondly, globalization has allowed Fosun to initiate the global deployment of anti-epidemic supplies at the beginning of the pandemic, thereby providing strong support for China and overseas to fight against the pandemic. We are grateful to Corporate Governance Asia for presenting the awards to Fosun, which is a great recognition of the Chinese private sector’s contribution to the global fight against the pandemic. The year 2022 marked the 30th anniversary of Fosun’s establishment. Standing at the new starting point of 30 years of establishment, Fosun will continue to strengthen its core businesses, deepen innovation and globalization. Fosun will continue to join hands with customers, partners, investors and all parties in society to forge ahead and continue to uphold its original aspiration of ‘Contribution to Society’, so as to actively promote the sustainable development of ESG, and practice Fosun’s mission of ‘Creating Happier Lives for Families Worldwide’.”

Fosun’s two treasures, “drug + vaccine” highlight the Group’s innovative achievements and social responsibility contributions to the fight against the pandemic

According to Corporate Governance Asia, in response to the pandemic, Fosun took the initiative to undertake corporate social responsibility. Leveraging its global resources advantage, Fosun has urgently deployed protective materials to aid many countries affected by the pandemic. Moreover, Fosun worked with BioNTech to develop the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and actively promoted the launch of the vaccine, strongly supporting the fight against the pandemic. Since July 2022, Azvudine, China’s first oral medication for COVID-19 jointly developed by Fosun Pharma and Genuine Biotech, has been widely used in assisting the fight against the epidemic in various regions. Fosun’s “drug + vaccine” highlight the Group’s innovative achievements and social responsibility contributions to the fight against the pandemic.

As regards Azvudine, Fosun Pharma recently approached a number of online medical platforms for cooperation to improve the accessibility of Azvudine through multiple channels, so as to further meet the needs for home treatment of patients infected with COVID-19. Since August 2022, Azvudine has been delivered to 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country. On 9 January 2023, Fosun Foundation, together with Fosun Pharma and Genuine Biotech announced a donation of RMB100 million worth of COVID treatment Azvudine to 180 counties in the central and western rural areas of China in phases.

The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, COMIRNATY^® jointly developed by Fosun and BioNTech has also made continuous progress. In November 2022, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR introduced the COMIRNATY^® bivalent vaccine, which can protect against the Omicron variant, and vaccination became available on 1 December 2022 for local residents under the government vaccination programs in Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, respectively. As regards the self-paid COMIRNATY^® COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, the self-paid COVID-19 vaccination service of the COMIRNATY^® BNT162b2 COVID-19 mRNA vaccine has been officially rolled out as of 1 November 2022 in Macao SAR. Since 6 January 2023, Fosun Health has officially opened the appointment window for the COMIRNATY^® bivalent vaccine in Hong Kong SAR. Fosun Health also cooperated with JD health, Meituan, Ali health, Baidu health, WeDoctor and Chunyi Doctor, users in need can make online appointments through any of the above platforms. After the appointment, they can go to Hong Kong SAR to get the COMIRNATY^® bivalent vaccine at their own expense.

Fosun develops business for good, actively disseminates good ESG stories and promotes global sustainable development.

According to Corporate Governance Asia, besides supporting the fight against the pandemic, Fosun has always adhered to its original aspiration of “Contribution to Society”. While developing rapidly, Fosun leveraged its own industrial advantages to actively give back to the society through philanthropic activities such as the fight against malaria in Africa, flood control and disaster relief, Rural Doctors Health Poverty Alleviation Program, education, culture, and entrepreneurship support, etc. The Asia’s Best CSR and Best Corporate Communications accolades presented by Corporate Governance Asia are to commend Fosun’s commitment to social responsibility and recognize Fosun’s persistence and effort through active promotion and dissemination of good ESG stories. 

About the Asian Excellence Award

The Asian Excellence Award is organized by one of the most authoritative corporate governance journals in Asia, Corporate Governance Asia. It is designed to recognize companies in the Asia-Pacific region that have excelled in corporate governance and corporate leaders who have made outstanding achievements in the field of corporate governance. The organizer inspected thousands of companies in the Asia-Pacific region through quantitative evaluation and interviews with investors to comprehensively measure the companies’ strengths. The awards recognize companies with comprehensive outstanding performance in financial performance, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, environmental protection, corporate communication and investor relations in the past year. The award-winning companies of this year’s 12th Asian Excellence Award include China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, China Overseas Land & Investment, CNOOC, PetroChina, Shui On Land, Sino Group, Sun Hung Kai Properties and other well-known companies in the Asia-Pacific region.