China Fund News reporter Nan Shen
On May 17, the official website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange updated that due to the withdrawal of the application for issuance and listing of Zhongqiao Sports Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongqiao Sports") and its sponsor BOCI Securities, the Shanghai Stock Exchange terminated its issuance and listing review in accordance with relevant regulations.
Zhongqiao Sports is the "Jordan Sports" that has passed the review of the Issuance Examination Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2011, but has not received the issuance approval for a long time. In 2012, Qiaodan Sports, which was infinitely close to the "first share of sports brand" in A-shares, was sued and arbitrated by American basketball superstar Michael Jordan. After a protracted tug-of-war, Qiaodan Sports finally lost the lawsuit and changed its name to "Zhongqiao Sports" in January 2021.
The termination of the IPO of Zhongqiao Sports has actually had certain expectations in the market. After the full registration system, the company moved to the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in March 2023 and received inquiries in July, but the company has not responded to the inquiries or even updated the application materials. At present, Zhongqiao Sports' prospectus is still stuck in the March 2023 version.
Regarding the termination of the IPO, the company issued a statement on its official website, saying that the withdrawal of the application will not affect the company's operation and long-term development.
"Touching porcelain" Jordan suffered a ten-year lawsuit
As early as 2010, when the prospectus was pre-disclosed, the company anticipated the possible risk of litigation. At that time, in the "Risk Factors Requiring Special Attention" section of the prospectus, the first item was "trademark and trade name risk". More than a decade later, in the 2023 version of the prospectus, the company still puts this risk in the first place.
Specifically, the company's trade name and main product trademark "Jordan" are the same as the Chinese transliteration name "Michael Jordan" of former American professional basketball star Michael Jordan, but the two parties do not actually have any business cooperation, and the company does not take the initiative to use its image for corporate and product promotion. The company also stated that "since the issuer's incorporation on June 28, 2000, Michael Jordan has never made any rights or claims against the issuer in relation to the issuer's trade name and the registered trademark 'Jordan'".
However, in November 2011, just after Qiaodan Sports successfully passed the Securities Regulatory Commission's issuance review meeting, the star Jordan came to "find trouble".
On February 23, 2012, Michael Jordan announced through a public relations company on the Internet that he was suing Jordan Sports in China for violating his name rights. In March 2012, the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court accepted the case of Qiaodan v. Qiaodan Sports and Shanghai Bairen Trading Co., Ltd.
Subsequently, in October 2012, Qiaodan requested the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board to revoke the 79 registered trademarks registered by Qiaodan Sports in China on the grounds of "improper means to register the disputed trademark" and "the disputed trademark is a sign with other adverse effects".
After a decade of tug-of-war, in March 2022, the Shanghai High Court made a final judgment, ordering Qiaodan Sports to publicly apologize in relevant media, stop using the trade name "Jordan" in its corporate name, and stop using the trademark involving "Jordan". On January 12, 2021, after the first-instance judgment came out, the company had already executed the judgment in advance and changed the name of "Qiaodan Sports" to "Zhongqiao Sports".
With this protracted lawsuit, the listing window of Zhongqiao Sports under the approval system was finally lost, until March 2023 ushered in the full registration system. But now, Zhongqiao Sports still failed to land in the capital market as expected.
The company issued a statement as soon as possible
At the same time as the official website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange disclosed that Zhongqiao Sports withdrew its IPO, the company also issued a statement on the official website for the first time.
In the statement, Zhongqiao Sports said, "The company has been operating steadily and with good performance for a long time, and from the consideration of business decisions and strategic planning adjustments, the company's board of directors has decided to withdraw the IPO application."
The company said that the withdrawal of the application will not affect the company's operation and long-term development, and the company will continue to pay attention to the dynamics of the capital market. "The company will always maintain steady operation, continue to increase product research and development and market investment, and is committed to providing consumers with more and better products."
The IPO of Zhongqiao Sports originally planned to raise 1.064 billion yuan for the expansion project of the shoe production base, the construction project of the R&D and design center, the construction project of the national strategic direct store, and the information construction project. It is reported that at present, the fundraising projects involved in its IPO application have basically been completed with its own funds.
According to the prospectus, Zhongqiao Sports is mainly engaged in the design, production and sales of sports shoes, sportswear and sports accessories. At present, Fujian Baiqun Investment holds 64.73% of the shares of Zhongqiao Sports and is the controlling shareholder of the company, while Ding Guoxiong and Ding Yezhi hold a total of 100% of the shares of Fujian Baiqun and are the actual controllers of Zhongqiao Sports.
Editor: Captain
Review: Muyu