Yang Changkun (CK Yang), the managing director of shipping and offshore at ICBC Financial Leasing, is leaving the Beijing-based finance giant after a stint heading up its offshore operation.

Yang confirmed that his next move awaits the expiration of his employment arrangements with the leasing house.

"Since I am still in the process of leaving and not free to sign any new contracts in the short term, [there is] no specific plan for the time being," Yang said in a message to TradeWinds.

He added that he has six months to wait before any new move.

Yang was recruited from policy bank Export-Import Bank of China in 2011, and his departure comes after an eight-year period during which ICBC Leasing has rapidly expanded its shipping and offshore fleet.

It is the biggest and, until recently, has been the most aggressive of the Chinese lease finance players to have expanded their fleets as traditional international ship-finance players retired from the market.

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Ships in the hundreds

ICBC Leasing's shipping portfolio, exclusive of offshore, broke the $10bn mark in 2017 and the company currently boasts a fleet of about 280 vessels.

As managing director of shipping and offshore, and head of business development at ICBC Leasing, Yang spearheaded major ship-finance deals with foreign owners, including a breakthrough agreement with energy major BP and the Chinese state-sponsored acquisition of part of Brazilian miner Vale's fleet of Valemax VLOCs.

More recently, ICBC Leasing also took the lead in a move by some of the top ship-leasing players — including Bank of Communications Leasing and Minsheng Financial Leasing — to become operating shipowners and asset players in their own right, with in-house chartering, sale-and-purchase and newbuilding operations.

But the years of expansion have also been marked by the troubled offshore market, and ICBC Leasing has borne the consequences of a heavy exposure to the financial woes of Brazil's Petrobras.

In September last year, Yang moved to a position of managing director of a newly created separate offshore division.