Recently, Lenovo's affairs have been making a lot of noise in China, because in the process of Lenovo's restructuring that year, Oceanwide Holdings, which Lu Zhiqiang actually controlled, bought 29% of the shares of Guoke Holdings of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at a low price of 2.7 billion yuan, so that Lenovo Group, which was originally a completely state-owned shareholder, was involved in the privatization process that could not be turned back. Therefore, the outside world inevitably speculates about what role Lu Zhiqiang's Oceanwide Holdings and the wealthy Taishan Society play in this?
Since there is no official conclusion on this incident at present, we will not elaborate on it here. But by analyzing the operation of Lu Zhiqiang, as well as the Chinese capital circle represented by Oceanwide Holdings and TaishanHui, we can figure out from another perspective what has happened in these decades.
Lu Zhiqiang, a native of Weihai, Shandong Province, was born in 1951 and is hailed as a model for China's capital market to abandon government and engage in business. In 1985, he began to go to the sea to do business, and earned his first pot of gold with education and training, as well as the real estate industry. Since 1991, Lu Zhiqiang seems to be hanging on, keeping up with the policy outlet, and the speed of wealth accumulation is breathtaking.
In 1995, through the introduction of Liu Chuanzhi, Lu Zhiqiang joined a high-level chamber of commerce, sitting with many well-known entrepreneurs and capital tycoons in China. This small circle, which is difficult for ordinary people to reach, is the Taishan Society, which later became famous.
It is precisely because of joining this small circle that occupies half of China's economic field, since 1998, Lu Zhiqiang's Oceanwide Energy Holdings has begun to rapidly increase capital and expand shares, and a crazy buying and buying drama has begun.
It should be said that from this time on, China's capital circle entered a new and rapidly expanding stage. After a series of dazzling and legal operations, Lu Zhiqiang acquired a 29% stake in Lenovo Group.
It was also at this time that Taishan began to launch a fierce attack on China's financial and insurance industries. By 2014, an iron triangle model of "real estate + finance + strategic investment" will be basically formed.
From 2014 to 2017, the Chinese capital circle represented by Lu Zhiqiang opened a global acquisition model. Oceanwide Hollow Valley not only dominates the country, but also extends its tentacles to Los Angeles, New York and Hawaii in the United States. It can be said that this is Lu Zhiqiang's highlight moment. In the eyes of the outside world, after more than 30 years of unremitting struggle, a Chinese entrepreneur has developed to the point where he can acquire a large number of high-quality assets overseas, fighting for the Chinese and is the light of the nation.
However, after the peak is the trough. Excessive expansion and rapid expansion made Lu Zhiqiang lose his way. More critically, he ignored China's determination and intensity to regulate the real estate market. Since December 2016, there has been a steady stream of bad news. After entering June 2017, when it was foreseen that major risks were coming, the relevant domestic departments increased their investigation efforts and began to adjust financing policies. A number of enterprises, including Oceanwide Holdings and Wanda, have serious risks of broken capital chains.
During this period, Oceanwide Holdings experienced a significant rapid increase in debt, but the main operating income was rapidly decreasing. By the first three quarters of 2021, the large non-recurring gains and losses brought by the real estate sector and the investment sector have been completely unable to offset the huge debt, and the situation of insufficient income can finally continue to be covered up. The mines that had been planted before exploded one after the other.
According to the data of September 2021, the net profit of Oceanwide Holdings was negative 1.81 billion yuan, and the magnitude and scale of losses continued to increase. As of the end of September, Oceanwide Holdings had debts maturing within one year of 36.924 billion yuan, double that of 2020.
What is even more disturbing is that there are rumors that Lu Zhiqiang has been investigated by relevant departments due to various problems involving the loss of state-owned assets and the restructuring of Lenovo Group. For this statement, Oceanwide Holdings deliberately issued a statement and resolutely denied it. But it still can't stop all kinds of speculation from the outside world.
As a big man in China's capital industry, lu Zhiqiang and Oceanwide Holdings are quite representative of the development process. They have all lived through glorious times, enjoyed flowers, honors and huge amounts of wealth that ordinary people can hardly imagine. But now, a number of capital enterprises, including Oceanwide Holdings, Wanda, Evergrande and Lenovo Group on the cusp of the storm, are in trouble to varying degrees.
The reasons for this are twofold. First of all, they are basically separated from the manufacturing industry, have put the focus of enterprise development on the financial field, intoxicated with all kinds of financial tricks to make money, and gradually become hollow. From the initial force that promoted the development of the national economy, it gradually evolved into a vampire who harvested the wealth of the people. Neither from a market perspective nor at the national level can they be allowed to continue to develop in disorder.
Secondly, when they change from entrepreneurs to capitalists, the greed in human nature is infinitely magnified, spending money like dirt and demanding too much, making them forget the bottom line and ignore the risk. They thought they could do whatever they wanted with the power of capital, but they didn't expect that in the end they would be eaten by their own greed.
In fact, behind this, there is also an invisible hand, that is, the capital interest groups from the United States, Japan and Europe have long been controlling and guiding domestic capital to the road of no return through various hidden or open means. In the end, foreign capital made a lot of money and retreated, leaving China with a group of enterprises on the verge of detonating. This is probably the most painful thing.