Tesla debunked rumors× ST Zotye continued to rise and stop the reorganization plan: the stock price bundled creditors' rights

Reporter Gong Mengze

A few days ago, a news of Tesla's acquisition of Zotye Automobile was widely disseminated, and even a signed and sealed document appeared. The "Securities Daily" reporter understands that the screenshot of the above document is: the "Letter of Commitment" of Zotye Automobile to obtain a business license, and the official seal of the company that dropped the money is "Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd."

In fact, tesla's acquisition of Zotye Motors has been rumored to have been going on for a year. As soon as the "official seal document" came out, the authenticity of the acquisition rumors seemed to be higher. However, on the evening of March 13, in the face of the seemingly solid news of Tesla's acquisition of Zotye Automobile, Tesla's vice president of external affairs, Tao Lin, finally responded publicly: "Naked fake news." ”

It should be pointed out that even if Tesla has come forward to debunk the rumors, on March 14, *ST Zotye still quickly rose to the limit after the opening, with an offer of 3.99 yuan and a total market value of 20.2 billion yuan. In addition, since Zotye Automobile fell into a debt crisis in 2019, it has been rumored that many companies have participated in its restructuring, including Baoneng, Weilai, Tesla, Geely, Xiaomi and so on. Even after Zotye Automobile was acquired by Shenzhen Commercial Group, the market is still difficult to stop.

The "demon stock" of the car circle is again blowing a whirlwind of hype

Tesla debunked rumors and could not stop the continuous rise and stop

According to the reporter's understanding, the content of the sealed document previously circulated on the Internet was a "Letter of Commitment" signed by the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau and Zotye Automobile. The content of the commitment includes "not engaging in relevant business activities before obtaining approval procedures", and the official seal of Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is stamped at the payment office, and the signatory is Zhu Xiaotong, the legal representative of Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

In response to the above documents, as early as March 10, some investors questioned the authenticity of Zotye Automobile on Interactive Easy---- "Is this document true?" If it is a fake document, please debunk the rumors so as not to mislead investors! In this regard, the secretary of the board of directors of *ST Zotye responded to investors: "The company has not heard of the signing of a letter of commitment with the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau. ”

However, the year-long rumors of "Tesla's acquisition of Zotye", coupled with the "blessing" of the stamped document, seem to be difficult to resist the imagination of some investors. On March 10, *ST Zotye's stock price changed its downward trend, and quickly rose shortly after the opening of the day, and rose continuously within three trading days.

In the face of public opinion fermentation, on the evening of March 13, Tesla's vice president of external affairs Tao Lin publicly spoke publicly for the first time: the content of this document is not true, the signature and official seal are also forged, and it has been suspected of committing a crime.

Interestingly, even if Tesla has come forward to debunk the rumors, on March 14, *ST Zotye still quickly rose to the limit after the opening, quoting 3.99 yuan, with a total market value of 20.2 billion yuan.

In fact, under the repeated action of rumors and rumors, since the beginning of 2021, *ST Zotye's stock price has soared all the way, from 1.14 yuan to nearly 10 yuan, an increase of nearly 8 times, setting a record of 27 stops in 42 trading days, becoming a veritable "demon stock" in the car circle. Zotye has also been named by the exchange many times due to frequent changes in stock prices, and even suspended trading for verification. Until this year, *ST Zotye's stock price has declined, falling by more than 40% year-to-date.

Only relying on short-term rumors to boost stock prices, it is difficult for the stormy Zotye Automobile to slow down, and the company's production and operation have long been in a state of stagnation under the hype wind. According to the latest performance forecast disclosed by Zotye, in 2021, the company expects operating income of 800 million yuan to 900 million yuan, and the expected net profit loss of 400 million yuan to 600 million yuan. *ST Zotye has said through the investor interaction platform that the company's next focus is to resume work and production.

The time limit for the payment of shares is not transferable

*ST Zotye share price bundles creditor rights

Since Zotye Automobile fell into crisis, this car company can be said to have earned enough eyeballs. According to the observation of the "Securities Daily" reporter, only in terms of the reorganization stage, the stock price has changed frequently, and the speculation about the restructuring investors of Zotye Automobile has not stopped. Even after Jiangsu Shenzhen Commercial Holdings officially announced that it had become an investor in the restructuring of Zotye Automobile, there were still rumors that the vehicle production bases of Zotye Automobile in Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Shandong, Chongqing and other places had become the object of the car companies.

Just in February this year, Zotye Automobile issued a clarification announcement on the "Great Wall Motor's acquisition of Zotye Linyi Factory", saying that neither the company nor its subordinate Jiangnan Linyi Branch nor Zhuotai Automobile Sales Company had signed any strategic agreements with Great Wall Motors. The above two companies under the company have stopped production and work for a long time, and the subsequent disposal of the assets belonging to the two companies has not yet been determined.

Compared with the frequent rumors of acquisition of Zotye Automobile, the information of its own reorganization process has not been mentioned more. The reporter noted that according to the content of Zotye Automobile's "Adjustment Plan for the Rights and Interests of Investors in the Draft Reorganization Plan", the debts of the past period will be repaid in the form of "stock + cash". The plan also mentions that "creditors shall not transfer their shares in Zotye Automobile within six months from the date of acceptance of the transfer of shares." This means that the creditors of Zotye Automobile must bear the losses caused by the decline of the company's stock during the agreed period of time.

According to the restructuring plan of Zotye Automobile, in the short term, it will integrate the brands of Zotye and Junma, merge homogeneous models and optimize the product structure; the long-term plan is to lay out high-end new energy vehicles. In addition to the main business of the whole vehicle, the layout of the online ride-hailing market. As for the way to boost sales, Zotye Automobile only said in general that the company will lay out the micro-electric vehicle to the countryside business and seize the commanding heights of the market.

Judging from the current situation, it seems that it is difficult for Zotye Automobile to come up with substantial good news that will help the operation to get rid of difficulties and increase the stock price. This has also made the outside world increasingly suspicious of the source and motivation of the acquisition of fake information. Ma Xiang, a senior corporate lawyer, told the Securities Daily reporter that forging official seals involves criminal liability, and generally sentences to fixed-term imprisonment of less than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or deprivation of political rights, and fines. In this regard, Tao Lin also said: "Welcome netizens to prove to him who is the concoction of this document? What is the purpose? It will promptly report the case to the public security organs. ”

(Edited by Tseshandan)