Xu Jiayin "disappeared" 180 billion in wealth

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The story of Evergrande Group and Xu Jiayin is ushering in the final ending.

On September 28, China Evergrande, Evergrande Automobile, and Evergrande Property, three "Evergrande series" Hong Kong listed companies, suspended trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This also makes the outside world full of doubts.

In terms of finance, on September 26, China Evergrande Group (03333. HK, hereinafter referred to as "China Evergrande" or "Evergrande") disclosed its 2023 interim report, during which the Group's revenue was RMB128.18 billion, of which the income from real estate development business was RMB120.07 billion. The company's operating loss during the period was 17.38 billion yuan.

In addition, the total liabilities of the company during the period were 2.39 trillion yuan, and the scale of liabilities after excluding contract liabilities was 1.78 trillion yuan. Compared with 2022, it increased by 67.83 billion yuan.

The debt pressure that does not decrease but increases indicates that Evergrande's road to self-help is not as smooth as imagined. Xu Jiayin, as the head of Evergrande, was not able to stand alone in this turmoil.

In the "Hou Hanshu Dou Rong Biography", it is written: "A hundred years of exhaustion; Once destroyed. As the old saying goes: "Buildings will fall and be destroyed." "The glory and splendor that everyone envied in the past Evergrande will never go back.

01

Started to "close the net"?

Recently, a series of sudden changes have put the Evergrande Group, which has attracted much attention, into the "cusp" of public opinion.

On September 16, the Nanshan Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a case circular, stating that the public security organ recently took criminal compulsory measures against Du and other suspected criminal persons of Evergrande Financial Wealth Management (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Evergrande Wealth") in accordance with the law, and informed investors of relevant reporting channels.

According to industrial and commercial information, Evergrande Wealth was established in November 2015, the legal representative of the company is Du Liang, the registered capital is 1 billion yuan, the company is 100% owned by Evergrande Financial Holding Group (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., which is wholly-owned by Evergrande Group. After penetrating layer by layer, the ultimate beneficiary of Evergrande's wealth is Xu Jiayin.

At the same time, it is worth mentioning that Du Liang paid for the wealth management products he purchased in Evergrande Wealth in advance on May 31, 2021 before Evergrande's "thunder". In this regard, Du Liang responded on the evening of September 12, 2021, saying that the early payment was due to an urgent matter at home.

According to people familiar with the matter, Evergrande Wealth was suspected of illegal fundraising in the process of conducting business. The case report issued by the Nanshan Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau this time also raised the incident to the level of a criminal offense.

On the evening of September 22, Evergrande released inside information on overseas debt restructuring. Evergrande said it released the terms of its proposed offshore debt restructuring on March 22, but since the announcement date, the group's sales have not been as good as the company expected. Based on the Company's current circumstances and consultations with its advisers and creditors, the Company believes that it is necessary to revisit the terms of the proposed restructuring to match the Company's objective circumstances and creditors' demands. Evergrande said that in view of the above situation, "the relevant agreement arrangement meeting on the proposed restructuring will not be held".

The suspension of the restructuring meeting also means that under the current unsatisfactory sales situation of Evergrande Group, creditors are extremely short of patience and confidence, and there is not much time left for Xu Jiayin to turn around.

Two days later, on the evening of September 24, Evergrande once again released inside information on overseas debt restructuring: given that Evergrande Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. (Evergrande's main subsidiary) is under investigation, the current situation of the group cannot meet the qualifications for the issuance of new notes.

This also means that Evergrande, which is under investigation, has been blocked from the financing side to the channel of "blood transfusion", and the situation of "borrowing new to repay the old" no longer exists.

Going further, on September 13, the Shenzhen Regulatory Bureau of the State Financial Regulatory Administration issued the Reply on the Approval of the Insurance Business of Evergrande Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Evergrande Life") by Harbour Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Evergrande Life") (hereinafter referred to as the "Approval"). The Reply agrees that Harbour Life will transfer Evergrande's life insurance business and corresponding assets and liabilities as a whole.

Evergrande Life was established on May 11, 2006, mainly engaged in life, annuity, health and accidental injury and other life insurance business. According to the information on the official website of Evergrande Life, since its establishment, the company has opened 88 branches across the country, providing more than 7.48 million customers with life insurance protection with an insured amount of more than 6.5 trillion yuan.

Harbour Life, which took over Evergrande Life, was established on June 28, 2023, with shareholders including Guangdong Yuecai Investment Holdings Co., Ltd. (shareholders are Guangdong Provincial People's Government and Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance), China Insurance Protection Fund Co., Ltd. (100% controlled by the Ministry of Finance), Shenzhen Penglian Investment Co., Ltd. (shareholders include Shenzhen Metro, Shenzhen Airport, etc.), Taiping Life Insurance Co., Ltd., and Chongqing Yuxin Investment Co., Ltd. (100% controlled by Chongqing Real Estate Group Co., Ltd.).

This also means that Evergrande Life, which once "made blood" for Evergrande, has also been taken over by government departments. At present, Xu Jiayin wants to turn over, and there is only one way left to ensure the handover of the building.

02

Xu Jiayin's net worth shrank by 90%

As the founder and chairman of the board of directors of China Evergrande, Xu Jiayin had supreme glory and wealth for a period of time. In the "2021 Forbes Rich List" released in April 2021, Xu Jiayin ranked 53rd in the "2021 Forbes Global Rich List" with a net worth of 27.7 billion US dollars (about 202.387 billion yuan).

Earlier, in August 2018, in Forbes' real-time rich list at that time, Xu Jiayin's net worth reached 41.4 billion US dollars (about 300 billion yuan), making him the richest man in China.

According to the "2023 Hurun Global Rich List", Xu Jiayin is now worth only 20 billion yuan, ranking 1100th in the world, compared with more than 200 billion yuan two years ago, the wealth has shrunk by more than 90%.

So, where did Xu Jiayin's "disappeared" wealth go? What assets does he have left?

On the whole, Xu Jiayin's annual salary is not high. Wind data shows that Xu Jiayin's salary last year was only 126,000 yuan, a decrease of 126,000 yuan from 2021. In comparison, Xia Haijun, known as the "working emperor", earned 21.231 million yuan. Even in 2021, when the industry has begun to cool, Xia Haijun's salary is still 202 million yuan.

In fact, Xu Jiayin's wealth mainly lies in the company's stock holdings. During the reporting period ending December 2022, Xu Jiayin held 59.78% of the shares of China Evergrande, and the reference stock market value at the end of the period was 11.634 billion yuan.

Compared with the glory period of Xu Jiayin's previous years, the value of this holding market has shrunk significantly. Wind data shows that in 2017, Xu Jiayin's salary was 224,000 yuan, the shareholding ratio of China Evergrande was 77.17%, and the reference stock market value at the end of the period reached 228.93 billion yuan.

As the actual controller of a listed company, Xu Jiayin's wealth value can be said to be closely related to the fate of Evergrande. With Evergrande's "thunder", Xu Jiayin's personal wealth also began to shrink rapidly.

On the other hand, market sources said that since July 2021, Xu Jiayin has used the money exchanged for Evergrande's rigid operating costs such as "guaranteeing the handover of buildings", repaying interest, redeeming wealth management, and paying employee salaries (including 3 villas in Hong Kong, mansions in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and several private jets) of personal property. As for how many assets Xu Jiayin sold to pay off Evergrande's debts, there is no exact data.

At present, Evergrande's assets also include Evergrande Property and Evergrande Automobile. According to the financial report, as of December 31, 2022, China Evergrande New Energy Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (00708. The main shareholder of HK, hereinafter referred to as "Evergrande Automobile") is China Evergrande Group, which holds about 58.54% of the shares. According to the 2022 annual report, Evergrande Property Group Co., Ltd. (06666. HK, hereinafter referred to as "Evergrande Property") has two major shareholders, one is composed of Xu Jiayin and Evergrande Group, etc., and the other is also controlled by Evergrande Group after penetrating layer by layer.

However, at present, Evergrande Auto is still in a loss-making state. According to the financial report, as of June 30 this year, Evergrande Automobile has delivered more than 760 Hengchi 5, and the company's total debt is 75.692 billion yuan. The net profit of Evergrande Property was 790 million yuan, and the profit attributable to the owners of the company was about 781 million yuan.

For Xu Jiayin and his subsidiary Evergrande Group, Evergrande Auto has not yet contributed profits, and the profits contributed by Evergrande Property are insignificant for Evergrande Group's more than one trillion yuan of liabilities. At present, it seems that Xu Jiayin wants to continue to promote the development of Evergrande Group, and he can only honestly guarantee the handover of the building.

Author丨Zhang Yu

Source丨Zhengtan Finance (ID: teccj6)