The debt is 460 billion insolvency, Xie Zhikun passed away for two years, and the planting system has become a "plate of loose sand"
Two years after the death of the founder, Xie Zhikun, the "Chinese planting system" came to an end.
On the evening of November 25, the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice saying that recently, the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau filed a case for investigation of the suspected illegal crimes of the wealth company belonging to the "Zhongzhi Department" in accordance with the law, and took criminal coercive measures against Xie Moumou and other criminal suspects.
Three days before the notice was issued, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. issued an "apology letter" through the official applet, which mentioned two main points,
At the asset level, according to the simulated merger of intermediaries, the book amount of the group's total assets is estimated to be about 200 billion yuan, but the impairment is serious and the amount that can be recovered is very low.
At the liabilities level, after excluding margins, the scale of principal and interest of related liabilities is about 420 billion to 460 billion yuan.
To put it simply, it is a serious insolvency.
Xie Zhikun has two well-known identities, one is Mao Amin's husband, and the other is the "mysterious capital predator" and the actual controller of the Zhongzhi system.
On December 18, 2021, Xie Zhikun died of a heart attack at the age of 61.
At the time of Xie Zhikun's death, many people were looking forward to who would take over the trillion-dollar capital empire, and whether the Zhongzhi system could return to the state that Xie Zhikun expected before his death.
Now, it seems, things are not going as planned.
According to the "Apology Letter", after the death of Xie Zhikun, a number of senior executives and core personnel have left their posts or resigned, and the group and its subsidiaries are highly dependent on the decision-making of the original actual controller, resulting in the internal management facing a state of failure.
The circle of friends of the "white knight".
As a capital tycoon, Xie Zhikun has always given the outside world the impression of "mystery". Except for his own relatives and friends, he is rarely seen or heard of having a very close relationship with a certain business tycoon.
Even after his death, no business tycoons were found to have expressed their condolences to him in public. His wife Mao Amin even said: "I will never disclose my husband's identity for the rest of my life." ”
But this does not prevent Xie from building relationships with many business tycoons, and over the years, the tentacles of the planting system have penetrated into all aspects of real estate, finance and capital markets. Where there is investment and trading, it is not difficult to see the figure of Xie Zhikun.
At the time of Xie Zhikun's death, the list of members of Xie Zhikun's funeral committee released on the official website of Zhongzhi Group included family members Xie Zhichun, Xie Zhiqiu, Xie Zizheng, Niu Zhanbin, Wu Jianhua, Luo Yinyu, Gao Xingshan, etc., as well as business tycoon Xu Rongmao.
Before his death, the most recent intersection between Xie Zhikun and Xu Rongmao was to take over Shimao Gongsan, who was "turned over" by Jia Yueting.
On July 29, 2021, the judicial auction information of the Beijing Equity Exchange showed that Beijing Zhuorui Property Management Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Zhongzhi Department, won the Shimao Gongsan project for 1.645 billion yuan. In 2016, LeTV Holdings, which still belonged to Jia Yueting at that time, bought Shimao Gongsan at a price of 2.972 billion yuan from Shimao shares, after which LeTV's capital chain was broken, and Shimao Gongsan embarked on the road of judicial auction, and after four failed auctions, it was finally included in Xie Zhikun in July 2021.
Xie and Xu Rongmao also have a soft spot for luxury homes. In April 2020, Zhonghai Shengrong, a subsidiary of Zhongzhi Group, announced the acquisition of the Workers' Stadium West Road Apartment Project (i.e., the No. 3 Gongti West Road Project) in the core area of Dongcheng District, Beijing, and subsequently transferred 40% of the equity to Shimao Group.
Shimao is also the largest partner of Zhongzhi. Tianyancha information shows that the two companies have established nearly 10 enterprises such as Shenzhen Maoyue Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Rongyue Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Yuemao Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Yueyun Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Rongsheng Fengying Industrial Co., Ltd. in the form of 50% equity each.
In his interactions with many bigwigs, Xie Zhikun, who has always been mysterious, actually plays the role of a "white knight".
In addition to Xu Rongmao, the "old iron", Xie Zhikun's other partner in the real estate circle is Guo Yingcheng, the boss of Kaisa. In 2017, Zhonghai Shengrong, a subsidiary of Zhongzhi Department, set up a 3.5 billion yuan fund to acquire 51% of Kaisa's urban renewal project in Nanmendun, Shenzhen. At that time, it was not long before Kaisa resumed trading, and it was quite a "charcoal in the snow". Zhongzhi said that the city of Shenzhen is a "treasure land" that investors do not want to miss.
In 2016, Xu Jiayin's Evergrande announced the acquisition of a 4.68% stake in Vanke for 9.1 billion yuan, which also benefited from the strong support of Xie Zhikun. Statistics show that in the two years from 2014 to 2016, Zhongrong Trust, a subsidiary of the Zhongzhi system, issued more than 10 trust products for Evergrande, providing financial support for Evergrande. Even, among the buyers of Evergrande Trust products at that time, there was also Cheng Kar-chun, the eldest son of Hong Kong New World Group Cheng Yutong.
While doing business with real estate tycoons, Xie Zhikun is also talking with another business tycoon, Qin Hui, an investor in the former "Heaven and Earth" nightclub, about a film and television deal.
In 2018, Zhongzhi successively took over a number of Xingmei cinemas under Qin Hui. In December, Gaosheng Wealth, a subsidiary of Zhongzhi Department, made a move and obtained 100% equity of Xingmei Film Co., Ltd. through its capital side. At that time, Xingmei Pictures had already fallen into the embarrassing situation of suspending business due to the financial crisis.
According to the industry's point of view at that time, although Xingmei had a financial crisis, coupled with the external environmental impact of the film and television winter, Xingmei's own cinema management ability still exists.
Some real estate executives have said that the investment in the real estate industry is relatively simple, and it does not seek control of listed real estate companies, and rarely overly involved in the operation of enterprises, and most of them play the role of financial investors, which is not so strong, but its cost of capital is not low.
This may also be the idea that Xie Zhikun has always adhered to, the direct shot of the plant system in the capital market is often only the position of the second shareholder, and the other investments are designed through a multi-layer equity structure, so that the shareholding becomes hidden and dispersed, making it difficult for the outside world to peek into the whole picture of the plant system.
The crisis-ridden "middle planting system"
"Zhongzhi" is not a synonym for a company, but a general term for dozens of listed companies and financial platforms controlled by Xie Zhikun. The capital territory of the planting system is very large, and it is quite low-key and mysterious. In a report by Xinhuanet in April 2014, it was described as "complicated in terms of equity relations, shell companies are used and abandoned, and capital operation is dazzling".
According to public information, there are at least 6 A-share listed companies currently controlled by the planting system, including Kane shares, Meijim, ST Yushun, quasi-oil shares, Kangsheng shares, ST Tianshan, etc.
Investors who are familiar with history must remember that in August 2020, a demon stock appeared in the capital market - Tianshan Biology.
At that time, the GEM was implementing the registration system, and Tianshan Biology was called "Tianshan Old Demon" by investors with a huge increase of 522.26% in 14 trading days.
Behind this listed company is the figure of the planting system.
In March 2020, Tianshan Biotech disclosed a capital increase agreement with effective conditions. The agreement stipulates that Huzhou Haohui, a subsidiary of the planting system, subscribes to the new registered capital of Tianshan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry with 500 million yuan of convertible debt of 500 million yuan. If the transaction is completed, Xie Zhikun will replace Li Gang and become the new actual controller of Tianshan Biotech. Subsequently, because the capital increase agreement did not meet the conditions for taking effect, the change of the actual controller of Tianshan Biotech was temporarily shelved.
In late August 2021, Tianshan Biotech, which has transformed into ST Tianshan, saw its share price fluctuate and climb again. This time, it is the middle plant system that plays a role in fueling the fire.
On the evening of August 31, 2021, ST Tianshan announced that Huzhou Haohui auctioned 69.2113 million shares of the company held by Tianshan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and its wholly-owned subsidiaries (accounting for 22.11% of the total share capital) through judicial auction. After the completion of the delivery of the shares in the judicial auction, the controlling shareholder of the company will be changed from Tianshan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry to Huzhou Haohui, and the actual controller of the company will be changed from Li Gang to Xie Zhikun.
Until November 16, 2023, not long before the thunderstorm, the planting system was still fighting with the founding team of Meijim for control of the enterprise.
According to a series of announcements issued by Meijim, before the general meeting of shareholders, the planting system and the founding team of Meijim respectively proposed a proposal to adjust the position of the current management, and the management representatives were Ma Hongying, the current chairman of the board of directors and the representative of the planting system, and Liu Junjun, the founder representative and the current general manager of Meijim, on the other hand. This is seen by the outside world as a sign of a struggle for control between the two sides.
In the end, on November 17, Meijim announced that the proposal put forward by the Chinese planting department was approved, and Liu Junjun's board seat was removed.
However, at present, the A-share territory of the planting system is full of hidden dangers, and many companies are in a difficult state of shelling. The market value of the above-mentioned A-share listed companies does not exceed 5 billion yuan.
After Xie Zhikun's death in 2021, Zhongzhi has lost control of the listed companies Meier Ya and Haochen Medical (formerly Rong Yu Group).
In addition, the planting system also frequently "stepped on thunder", LeTV, Kangdexin, Kangmei Pharmaceutical, Changsheng Biotechnology and other A-share typical thunder cases have been favored by it.
Shortly before Xie Zhikun's death, on November 29, 2021, Zhongzhi was revealed to have participated in the judicial auction of the original LeTV Building, and in the name of Beijing Hengying Property Management Co., Ltd., it was auctioned for 573 million yuan for LeTV Building.
Taoyun Capital Group Co., Ltd. issued a statement saying that Zhongzhi used the "vest" Beijing Hengying Property Management Co., Ltd. to auction LeTV Building for 573 million yuan, and said that it would continue to achieve the purpose of debt recovery and commercial claims through arbitration. At present, there is still no definite conclusion on this dispute.
Temporary investment may not be the worst outcome for the huge Chinese plant, but being forced to put the figure of the middle plant in the spotlight may be the last thing Xie Zhikun wants to see before his death.
Since 2019, due to the downturn in the stock market, many companies under the planting system have been forced to hold the shares of the companies they invest in for a long time, and even become the major shareholders of listed companies. In January 2019, after nearly four years of resignation, Xie Zhikun, who had been in seclusion behind the scenes, re-elected as the chairman of the board of directors of Zhongzhi Group, slightly breaking the previous low-key way of doing things.
But the problem is that the departure of Xie Zhikun has been difficult to prevent the Chinese plant system from going towards the road of "drinking water to quench thirst".
In recent years, the impact of the overall decline in investment income in the primary and secondary markets, the assets of the planting system are facing the dilemma of shrinkage, in recent years, many of the actual control enterprises of the planting system have been forced to adopt the "debt-to-equity" method because of the decline in performance, and the value of a listed company has shrunk sharply "mess" to the planting system. Xie Zhikun's model of "only being a second shareholder" before his death was gradually broken.
To put it simply, as a major shareholder, the plant system holds a number of listed companies with worrying asset quality, and the realization is the loss of real money, and there is no room for the stock price to take off with performance.
With no way out, the planting system simply adopted the method of raising funds through the issuance of non-standard products through local gold exchanges and even "pseudo gold exchanges", borrowing the new to repay the old, and trying to maintain this huge asset empire.
In 2021, the "Securities Times" investigated and found that more than 70 registered companies, under the banner of the "Gold Exchange", built a new underground financing channel for the illegal issuance of "wealth management products" for real estate, third-party wealth and other industries. It is estimated that the funds raised through this channel may be as high as 100 billion. The three wealth companies of Datang, Hengtian and Xinhu under the planting system are involved.
This model of "fake gold exchange", from the first minute of issuing products, is actually an illegal fund-raising transaction. As long as you can't borrow new money, the explosion of thunder is an inevitable result.
Since July 2023, the fixed financing products of a number of wealth management companies under the Zhongzhi system have announced large-scale defaults, which means that the end is not far away.
Two years after his death, Xie Zhikun's descendants failed to keep his legacy.