(Yicai) March 20 -- Shares of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding rose after the leading Chinese drugmaker said it will name the vice president of its parent company as the new chairman.

Shanghai Pharma [SHA: 601607] closed 0.3 percent up at CNY17.42 (USD2.42) in Shanghai today. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 2607] jumped 3.1 percent to HKD11.98 (USD1.53).

Shanghai Industrial Investment Holdings’ VP Yang Qiuhua will become Shanghai Pharma’s new chairman, the Shanghai-based pharmaceutical giant announced yesterday.

Yang, who had also worked as the managing director of Shanghai Sunway Biotech and chairman of Nanyang Brothers Tobacco, will replace acting chairman Yao Jiayong, Shanghai Pharma noted, adding that Yao will then resign from all positions in the company and its affiliates.

Yao stepped in as acting chairman of Shanghai Pharma last November when then-chairman Zhou Jun was put under investigation by the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection for alleged corruption and bribery.

Zhou worked at Shanghai Industrial Investment for many years and was appointed president of the company and chairman of Shanghai Pharma in 2016.

On March 15, the Shanghai municipal government released a statement announcing that Zhou was expelled by the Communist Party of China and removed from public office because he had carried out severely illegal duty-related acts and committed crimes of corruption and receiving bribes.

Investigations into Shanghai Pharma’s executives began around half a year ago. Last September, the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection kicked off probes into four of the company’s executives, including VP Pan Deqing, for severely violating rules and breaking the laws. In November, the commission announced investigations into Zhou and former VP Gu Haoliang for the same reasons.

Editor: Futura Costaglione