Vanke 'ropes in govt help' to ward off Baoneng

Battle builds up as Shenzhen company becomes developer's biggest stakeholder

The confrontation between China Vanke Co Ltd, the country's largest residential developer, and its largest shareholder Baoneng Group escalated on Monday after news reports suggested that Vanke may have sought government support to resolve the crisis.

In what Vanke called a "hostile takeover bid", Baoneng, a relatively unknown and much smaller Shenzhen-based private conglomerate, gained sudden prominence after it became the developer's largest shareholder by purchasing 22.45 percent of Vanke's shares on the public market through its affiliates.