Per reporter: Pei Jianru Per reporter Per editor: Sun Lei
"I've been in the company for eight years, and now that I'm catching up with the pandemic and I'm out of work, I can only say that things are uncertain." When it comes to work, Yang Yang (pseudonym), who was once an employee of Renault Brilliance Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Renault Brilliance), can only smile bitterly.
Yang Yang told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that the company has carried out a "full buyout" of the employees, terminated the labor contract, and could voluntarily go through the resignation procedures without objection before March 18, and she herself has signed the agreement. "(Everyone) has to sign, it's sooner or later, it's better to do it sooner rather than later." Yang Yang said.
A source close to Renault Brilliance also told reporters: "The employees of Renault Brilliance have almost gone before. Now what is left is going through the formalities one after another, and some people have already signed it. ”
At the end of December last year, the National Enterprise Bankruptcy and Reorganization Case Information Network disclosed that Renault Brilliance had applied for bankruptcy to the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court. Subsequently, in January of this year, Brilliance China (01114. HK) announced that Renault Brilliance's application for reorganization has been accepted by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court, and that the Renault Brilliance Liquidation Team, led by Gao Wei, Director of the Comprehensive Laws and Regulations Division of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the Liaoning Provincial People's Government, has been appointed by the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court as the administrator to manage the reorganization.
A source, who did not want to be named, told reporters: "The restructuring of Renault Brilliance is expected to be completed in June this year. ”
In response to the above-mentioned employee placement and the news of the progress of the reorganization, the reporter asked the relevant responsible persons of Brilliance Group and Renault China for verification, but as of press time, there was no reply.
Employees can't get compensation until they get paid within a year and a half
The reporter learned that a few days ago, the Manager of Renault Brilliance has made three batches of public announcements on the claims of Renault Brilliance employees through online publicity, of which the first batch of publicity and the second batch of publicity began on March 2 and March 5 this year, and the third batch of publicity dates were from March 21 to April 4.
Image source: Renault Brilliance official website
According to the public information, if the subsequent employee and the company terminate or terminate the labor contract and enjoy compensation in accordance with the law, the manager will calculate and publicize it separately in accordance with relevant regulations.
"There are many people like me in the company who have been working for many years, and even some people have been working here for more than twenty years." Yang Yang told reporters.
According to Yang Yang, the compensation for employees to leave the job is now calculated according to the average monthly salary from last year to this year multiplied by the number of years of work, and the company said that it will give employees within one and a half years.
In fact, long before the application for reorganization, the wave of employee departures from Renault Brilliance had already attracted attention. In November last year, a person close to Brilliance Group revealed to reporters: "Renault Brilliance is also about to optimize employees, and now all staff are on holiday, leaving only some duty personnel." ”
Subsequently, according to media reports, Renault Brilliance began to suspend the payment of wages from December 20 last year, and various insurance and provident funds were also suspended (only medical insurance was paid), employees could voluntarily apply for resignation, and basically 1 to 2 days could complete the termination of the labor contract.
But since then, employees have been waiting for the news that the company has filed for bankruptcy reorganization. "No way, the company has been in debt, the situation is not optimistic." First brilliance China 'full bought out', and then there is Renault Brilliance, everyone is more or less prepared. Yang Yang said.
The restructuring is expected to be completed in June this year?
It is worth noting that at present, it has been more than two months since Renault Brilliance officially entered the reorganization process, and its latest progress has also attracted much attention.
"If nothing else, Renault Brilliance's restructuring is expected to be completed in June this year." The above-mentioned source, who did not want to be named, told reporters.
During the reporter's investigation, it was found that since July last year, Renault Brilliance's models have begun to stop production, which directly leads to dealers having no cars to sell and eventually being forced to withdraw from the network.
"Manufacturers can't get out of the car, we can't afford it, and finally we can only switch to other brands." Fang Lin (pseudonym) was originally a salesperson at Renault Brilliance dealership in Beijing, but now his store has begun to switch to selling Futian commercial models.
However, some dealers are still struggling. "Our store has sold many annuity cup models, and now we are struggling to support and wait to see the restructuring of the manufacturers, hoping that the situation will improve as soon as possible." The current news is that manufacturers may continue to have new cars after June. Zhou Tian (pseudonym) told reporters.
In addition to brand dealers, the restructuring of Renault Brilliance has also "affected" other enterprises in the Brilliance department. According to Jinbei Automobile (600609. SH) and Shenhua Holdings (600653.SH) previously announced that in addition to the impairment factors of fixed assets, the bankruptcy restructuring of Renault Brilliance is expected to affect the attributable profit of Jinbei Automobile in 2021 to 48 million yuan, which may affect the net profit of Shenhua Holdings for the current period of about 3.16 million yuan.
Judging from the above data, due to the restructuring of Renault Brilliance, the total profit loss of Jinbei Automobile and Shenhua Holdings may reach 51.16 million yuan.
Sales are declining year by year
According to public information, Renault Brilliance's automobile production qualification types are passenger cars (excluding cars), light buses, multi-purpose trucks (long-scalped trucks), special passenger cars; new energy passenger cars (excluding cars); planned production capacity of buses and passenger cars (including new energy) 150,000 units / year. In addition, Renault Brilliance has branches in Chongqing and Mianyang, Sichuan, with a total planned production capacity of 60,000 vehicles per year and 30,000 vehicles per year, respectively.
But looking back at the four-year history of the joint venture, Renault Brilliance has not been very smooth all the way. In December 2017, after a year and a half of negotiations, Brilliance China and Renault Group formally signed a contract to form a joint venture company Renault Brilliance, which plans to produce and sell light commercial vehicles under the three brands of Jinbei, Renault and Huasong.
At that time, Brilliance Jinbei (i.e. Shenyang Brilliance Jinbei Automobile Co., Ltd.), founded in 1989, was facing huge losses, with accumulated debt of more than 1 billion yuan. Therefore, Brilliance Group (i.e. Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings Limited) sold 49% of the equity of Brilliance Jinbei to Renault Group for 1 yuan, hoping that the two sides will invest further 1.5 billion yuan in the future to achieve a turnaround in the light passenger business.
Image source: Per reporter Zhang Jian photographed (data map)
Since then, Renault Brilliance's development has not been as good as expected. Since 2018, Renault Brilliance's sales have declined year by year. Sales in 2018 were 43,000 units, down nearly 30% year-on-year; sales in 2019 were 40,200 units; and by 2020, Renault Brilliance had sold just over 23,000 units. Prior to this, the Jinbei bus market had exceeded 1 million units, which was the first brand of light passengers in China, and ranked first in the sales volume of China's light commercial vehicle market for 19 consecutive years.
"The reason why Renault Brilliance has come to this point is mainly because it has not updated and iterated on the model technology in time, and the shareholder Renault has not introduced new models as planned. As a joint venture company, Renault Brilliance has actually been eating the old cost of the 'Golden Cup' model, which has led to its models gradually failing to keep up with the needs of the market, and its sales have decreased year by year, and eventually towards bankruptcy reorganization. Zhang Xiang, an automotive analyst and researcher at the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center of North China University of Technology, said in an interview with reporters.
In fact, at the beginning of the establishment of the joint venture, Renault Brilliance said that it plans to achieve annual sales of 150,000 vehicles and launch 7 new models by 2022. In the latest strategic plan released by Renault Group, Renault Brilliance has also become an important starting point in its light commercial vehicle field, saying that it will launch a full range of light commercial vehicles by 2023, including 5 models that fully cover small, medium and large vans (H-Van, M-Van, S-Van), including electrified models.
But these plans did not materialize. "Renault's car has not come out, and a lot of work has been done on the introduction side, but it has not been launched, everything is to be determined, and the specific reason is not clear." Earlier, a source close to Renault Brilliance had told reporters.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, also said that Renault Brilliance originally had a good foundation, and Jinbei Automobile (light passenger) was once in the leading position. However, the follow-up did not strengthen independent technology research and development to ensure the continuous improvement of product strength, but reacted passively in the face of regulations and fierce competition, and finally had today's dilemma.
Still waiting for the "White Knight"
The reporter learned that at present, Renault Brilliance is recruiting restructuring investors, and the registration deadline is March 31, 2022.
It is worth mentioning that there are seven conditions for Renault Brilliance restructuring investors to meet, including "the principle person manager does not limit the industry engaged in by the intended investor, but the intended investor should have the operation management ability and corporate governance ability suitable for Renault Brilliance's existing business", "two or more intentional investors can form a consortium to participate in the investment, of which each intended investor should meet all the recruitment conditions" "The intended investor participates in the Renault Brilliance restructuring investment, A registration deposit of RMB 10 million is required" and so on.
In addition, the investor recruitment information also shows that qualified intended investors must submit Renault Brilliance's restructuring investment plan to the manager before March 15, 2022, and the manager will review the restructuring investment plan. Restructuring investors will be determined by competitive selection.
Renault Brilliance said that the purpose of recruiting reorganization investors is to integrate the advantages of restructuring investors in terms of funds and management and the existing assets and resources of Renault Brilliance, optimize the structure of Renault Brilliance's assets and liabilities, release the value of Renault Brilliance's restructuring, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of creditors, employees and other relevant entities in accordance with the law.
Image source: National Enterprise Bankruptcy and Reorganization Case Information Network
In the view of Cao He, president of Allianz Investment Management (Beijing) Company, at this time node, it is not easy for Renault Brilliance to recruit suitable investors. "Now Brilliance Group is also restructuring, Renault's situation in the Chinese market is not optimistic, and the qualification of commercial vehicles is not so attractive, so it is not easy for Renault Brilliance to find suitable investors." Cao He thinks.
Zhang Xiang believes that at present, Renault Brilliance wants to find investors in order to revitalize the qualifications in his hands. Although the company does not have good technology and models, the brand still has a certain degree of popularity. "Because one of Renault Brilliance's shareholders is Brilliance Group. This means that if the joint venture company can revitalize its assets and continue to produce and operate in the future, it is still likely to receive resource tilt and funding from local governments. Zhang Xiang said.
In Zhang Xiang's view, Renault Brilliance's main business is commercial vehicles, and there are also certain advantages and regional customer accumulation in this field, coupled with the industry concentration of commercial vehicles is not very high, as well as the local protection policy for commercial vehicles, if it can be successfully reorganized, Renault Brilliance will have certain development opportunities.
At present, Renault Brilliance in suspension is still waiting for its "white knight". What kind of plot will it end with? The industry will stay tuned.
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