Liu Yongzhuo was arrested! He was Xu Jiayin's "right-hand man," with an annual salary of more than 68 million yuan! Two weeks ago, he was still selling cars; when he was in charge of Evergrande football, he proudly said: If I don't give you the domestic championship, I can't rob it
Xu Jiayin's "right-hand man", Liu Yongzhuo, executive director of Evergrande Automobile, president of Hengchi Automobile, and former chairman of Guangzhou Evergrande Club, was arrested.
Image source: Visual China
On January 8, Evergrande Automobile issued an announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, stating that the company was informed that Mr. Liu Yongzhuo, the executive director of the company, had been criminally detained in accordance with the law on suspicion of violating the law and committing crimes.
After the resumption of trading of Evergrande Automobile, the stock price shook dramatically, and as of the end of writing, it has fallen by more than 12%.
Xu Jiayin is a "capable player", and when he was in charge of Evergrande football, he proudly said:
"The championship in the country, I can't grab it if I don't give it to you"
According to public information, Liu Yongzhuo, male, born in 1981, graduated from East China Normal University and Wuhan University of Science and Technology with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in engineering management.
Liu Yongzhuo began to serve China Evergrande in 2003 and was highly valued by Xu Jiayin, and was Xu Jiayin's "right-hand man". In the management team of Evergrande Group, he ranked fifth only after Chairman Xu Jiayin, President Xia Haijun, President Zhen Litao of Evergrande Real Estate, and Shi Shouming, Vice President of Evergrande Group.
Liu Yongzhuo was in charge of Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, Evergrande Cultural Industry Group, Evergrande Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group, Evergrande Internet Finance Group, Evergrande High-tech Group, etc. He is currently the Executive Vice President of Evergrande Group, the President of Evergrande New Energy Automobile Group, the Chairman of Evergrande New Energy Technology Group, and the President of Vehicle Research Institute.
Liu Yongzhuo served as the chairman of Guangzhou Evergrande Club after Evergrande entered the football world in 2010, Evergrande from the Chinese League championship to the Chinese Super League championship, and won the AFC Champions League, all of which were completed during Liu Yongzhuo's tenure as chairman of the club.
Liu Yongzhuo, Cannavaro, Lippi Image source: Visual China
At the celebration banquet for Guangzhou Evergrande to win the 2016 FA Cup, Liu Yongzhuo made a mocking summary to the whole team: "Our way of playing today is that I deliberately let you go first, and I will chase another one." Give you a little hope, and then I'll get it back. Then he shouted domineeringly: "The champion in the country, if I don't give it to you, you can't grab it!"
The annual salary once exceeded 68 million, and he was still selling cars two weeks ago
Mr. Liu was last seen in public on Dec. 26 last year.
According to Hengchi's official WeChat, on December 26, 2023, Evergrande Automobile held a "major customer delivery ceremony".
It is worth noting that Liu Yongzhuo, who is currently the president of Evergrande Automobile, made a rare public appearance. In addition, Gao Jingshen, CEO of Hengchi Automobile, Zhou Jishu, Chairman of Ward Brothers Co., Ltd., and Zhou Yuqiu, General Manager of Aochi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., attended the event.
Zhou Jishu said that Hengchi 5 as a global Jizhi pure electric luxury SUV, with ultra-high product power and high cost performance to win wide recognition in the market, is a well-deserved good car, we firmly choose Hengchi 5, I believe that Hengchi car will get better and better.
Liu Yongzhuo said, "In the past year, the delivery volume of Hengchi 5 has increased steadily, and what is even more encouraging is that the excellent quality and intimate after-sales service have won excellent user reputation for this car." Thanks to our customers for choosing Hengchi and trusting Hengchi, we will move forward side by side to create brilliance. ”
Image source: Hengchi WeChat account
According to the latest financial report data, in the first half of 2023, Evergrande Automobile's revenue will be 154 million yuan, an increase of 540.98% year-on-year, and the increase in revenue is mainly due to the start of sales of Hengchi 5. However, the gross profit loss was 60.88 million yuan, compared with a gross loss of 9.64 million yuan in the same period in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 531.54%, mainly due to the high manufacturing cost due to the rising prices of core components such as batteries and chips, and the lack of large-scale production.
Net losses totaled RMB6,873 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 48.6%, of which RMB1,061 million were losses from discontinued operations (i.e., divestment of real estate projects) held for sale, RMB3,716 million were non-operating losses such as asset disposal and asset impairment, and RMB2,096 million were operating losses.
As of the end of the first half of 2023, Evergrande Automobile's total assets were 42.852 billion yuan, total liabilities were 75.692 billion yuan, and net assets were -32.84 billion yuan. Evergrande Automobile was involved in the cumulative amount of unpaid debts due to about 9.341 billion yuan, and the cumulative amount of overdue commercial bills was about 3.591 billion yuan.
However, Evergrande's poor performance did not affect Liu Yongzhuo's high personal salary. In 2021, his salary was 68.49 million yuan, and in 2022, he received 43.98 million yuan.
Image credit: Straight Flush Find
Evergrande Automobile's "life-saving money" is also hanging
On the evening of August 14, 2023, Evergrande Automobile announced that the company received the first strategic investment of US$500 million (about 3.55 billion yuan) from Newton Group (NWTN Group), and after the completion of the transaction, Newton Group's shareholding in Evergrande Automobile accounted for 27.5% of the total issued ordinary shares after the expansion.
At the same time, in order to support the business recovery and growth of Evergrande Automobile, Newton (Zhejiang) Automobile Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Newton Group, signed a transitional financial support agreement with Evergrande New Energy Automobile (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. after market hours on August 14, 2023, pursuant to which, subject to the satisfaction of the conditions precedent in the agreement, Newton shall provide Evergrande Automobile with interest-free and guaranteed transitional funds in three equal amounts of RMB 600 million for the research and development, production and sales of Evergrande Automobile.
In addition, Evergrande Auto announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that in connection with, among other things, the debt restructuring of China Evergrande Group, on 14 August 2023 (after trading hours), the Company entered into a share subscription agreement and an offsetting agreement with each subscriber (some of whom are related persons of the Company), pursuant to which each subscriber conditionally agreed to subscribe, and the Company conditionally agreed to allocate and issue a total of 5.441 billion new shares to the subscribers (or any person designated by them) at the subscription price of HK$3.84 per subscription share, with a total subscription amount of HK$20.895 billion。 The subscription amount shall be repaid by setting off the relevant loans owed by the Company to the subscribers.
Among them, Xu Jiayin subscribed for HK$2 billion in new shares (about RMB 1.86 billion), and Xu Jiayin's ex-wife Ding Yumei subscribed for HK$1.6 billion in new shares. In addition, Xinxin, as an affiliate of Xu Jiayin, subscribed for HK$650 million, while Haobang, as an affiliate of Ding Yumei, subscribed for HK$600 million.
However, on the evening of September 28, 2023, China Evergrande announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the company received a notice from relevant departments that Xu Jiayin, the company's executive director and chairman of the board of directors, had been taken compulsory measures in accordance with the law on suspicion of violating the law and committing crimes.
Image source: Guangzhou team official WeChat
On the evening of October 8, 2023, Evergrande Automobile disclosed in the announcement that the company received a letter from Newton Group (the subscriber) on September 29, 2023, including:
In view of the Company's announcement on 28 September 2023 that trading in its shares has been suspended, together with a series of recent changes to China Evergrande Group, there are significant uncertainties, which in turn will also create significant uncertainties in the Share Subscription Agreement and the proposed transaction. According to the share subscription agreement, the completion of Evergrande Group's debt restructuring and a series of other preconditions are important prerequisites for closing. In this case, the Subscriber suspends the performance of the relevant obligations under the Share Subscription Agreement.
According to the transitional fund support agreement, due to the current situation that the conditions precedent under the share subscription agreement cannot be met, the conditions precedent for Newton (Zhejiang) Automobile Co., Ltd. (the fund provider) to pay the second and third tranches of funds to Evergrande New Energy Automobile (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (the fund recipient) cannot be met, and the fund provider is temporarily not obliged to pay the second and third funds to the fund recipient.
The Subscriber expects the Company to reply with clarification that: (a) the debt restructuring plan of Evergrande Group involved in the Share Subscription Agreement needs to be readjusted and there is a plan to launch a new restructuring plan, and (b) China Evergrande Group, the Company, creditors and related parties are willing to renegotiate the adjustments required for the proposed transaction plan on the premise that the new restructuring plan is clear.
The Subscriber acknowledges that the Letter does not constitute a notice of termination of the Share Subscription Agreement and does not require termination of the Share Subscription Agreement as of the date of the Letter.
Evergrande Auto said in the announcement that the company sent a reply letter to the subscriber on October 5, 2023, expressing its willingness to renegotiate with the subscriber on the adjustments required by the proposed transaction plan. The Company will make further announcements in accordance with the Listing Rules and the Takeovers Code in due course.