Flowing water does not compete for the first, the competition is endless - Hillhouse Capital Zhang Lei
Under the background of the outbreak of medicine and the Internet, Hillhouse Capital has been pushed onto the stage of the times. In a few years, Zhang Lei has gradually transformed from a behind-the-scenes trader into the signboard of Hillhouse Capital.
Participating in the huge fixed increase in the Ningde era, taking over 15% of the equity of Gree Electric Appliances, re-warehousing the pharmaceutical track, and hillhouse's every shot has become a hot spot for the market to follow the trend. However, with the decline of the pharmaceutical industry, new energy has stepped on the brakes, and the previous investment myths are gradually shattered.
On February 15, Hillhouse's HHLR Advisors released the U.S. stock holdings data for the end of 2021. According to the data, Hillhouse Capital holds a total of 76 stocks with a market value of $6.47 billion.
Compared with Hillhouse Capital's A-share position, it is clear that the proportion of US stocks (about 41 billion yuan) is small, in addition, we also found a more interesting phenomenon, that is, Hillhouse Capital has increased its position in Ideal Car, and the total market value of the position has reached about 150 million US dollars, which is also the first time that Ideal Car has entered the top ten stocks of HHLR.
In addition to the substantial increase in the field of new energy, for Internet e-commerce, Hillhouse Capital has carried out a large proportion of warehouse reduction and even clearance, including the liquidation of Ali, a large proportion of holdings of Pinduoduo.
Although the situation of Chinese stocks and A-share white goods have fallen more since last year, why has Hillhouse Capital not reduced its holdings or liquidated Gree?
First of all, in 2019, Hillhouse Capital ate 15% of the equity of Gree Electric Appliances in the hands of Gree Group for 41.7 billion yuan, becoming the largest shareholder of Gree, but the more interesting phenomenon is that Hillhouse has not entered the board of directors of Gree.
After entering Gree, Zhang Lei once said that it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of long-term capital, use global research and experience in helping the transformation of the real economy to help Gree introduce more strategic resources and help Gree break through internationalization and diversified development.
Dong Mingzhu also said that Hillhouse Capital is only a financial investment.
But in fact, the performance of Gree in the past two years is not very good, in addition to the decline in stock prices, its diversification has also been thrown down by the rival Midea Group, and the most important thing is that Hillhouse Capital has also fallen below the holding line.
Secondly, Gree's Dong Mingzhu has always been a strong figure, and its helm of Gree Electric Appliances for more than a decade, Gree Electric Appliances has been deeply branded with Dong Mingzhu, so it is unrealistic for Hillhouse Capital to shake Gree simply through financial investment.
In fact, whether Hillhouse Capital can enter the board of directors of Gree has always been the focus of attention of the outside world, this year's Board of Directors of Gree in addition to Dong Mingzhu continued to re-elect, Hillhouse Capital is still not on the board, which also reflects the relationship between Hillhouse Capital and Dong Mingzhu.
Finally, does Dong Mingzhu not care about the feelings of Hillhouse Capital and Zhang Lei? The answer is also no. According to the media, Hillhouse's investment team will communicate directly with Dong Mingzhu, and "a lot of progress will be reflected one after another."
We can find a lot of clues from the statement of Dong Mingzhu, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Gree, one of which is to continue to develop new energy, and Dong Mingzhu also said that he will not build family cars, which is obviously to avoid the "collision" with some new car-making forces, and Gree does not have advantages in this field. The second Dong Mingzhu said that it is necessary to speed up the splitting of enterprises and list them, so that Gree can form a comprehensive group composed of a number of listed companies. In fact, this is the most direct purpose of Hillhouse Capital, in the past Gree cash flow is very healthy, so it is willing to make money dividends, but capital is obviously not for dividends, as long as Gree can continue to fission, then for capital this is the desired result, therefore, I believe this is also the result of communication between Hillhouse Capital and Dong Mingzhu.
In summary, I think that the reason why Hillhouse Capital does not sell Gree electrical appliances is because Gree electric appliances are absolutely high-quality assets, it is more difficult to come in, if you reduce your holdings or liquidate, then it is a strategic mistake, which is fundamentally different from investing in enterprises such as Pinduoduo.