On June 25, Brilliance China announced that Wu Xiaoan, the company's executive director and chairman of the board of directors, was informed by the ICAC on June 24, 2024, that the ICAC had completed its investigation of Wu Xiaoan and confirmed that it would not take any further action against Wu Xiaoan.
In August 2023, Brilliance China announced that officers of the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption visited the company's principal place of business in Hong Kong on August 3 to execute a search warrant, and on the same day, the executive director and chairman of the board of directors, Wu Xiaoan, was detained by the ICAC for investigation on suspicion of violating section 9(1)(a) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (Cap. 201) of the Laws of Hong Kong, and Wu Xiaoan was released on bail without charge on August 4.
Brilliance China said that Wu Xiaoan was unconditionally released on bail on June 24, 2024, and the case is now closed. The investigation did not have a material adverse impact on the Group and the Group's business and operations remained normal during the investigation period.
According to the information, Wu Xiaoan has been the chairman of the board of directors of Brilliance China since June 18, 2002, and an executive director since January 11, 1994. With 28 years of experience in the automotive industry, Wu Xiaoan is primarily responsible for the Group's overall strategic planning and business development at Brilliance China, having served as Chairman of BMW Brilliance from May 2003 to February 2022 and Vice Chairman of BMW Brilliance since February 2022. He served as a director of Renault Brilliance from January 1994 to August 2016 and as chairman of Renault Brilliance since January 2018. The financial report shows that Wu Xiaoan's annual salary in 2023 will be 8.683 million yuan.
It is worth mentioning that Wu Xiaoan was punished in February 2023 for Brilliance Group's information disclosure violations and violations.
According to the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it has been found that Brilliance Group has the following illegal facts: 1. There are false records in the 2017 and 2018 annual reports disclosed by Brilliance Group; 2. Brilliance Group fraudulently obtained approval for public issuance of corporate bonds with false declaration documents; 3. False records in the documents disclosed by Brilliance Group's non-public issuance of corporate bonds; Based on the above illegal facts, a total fine of 200,000 yuan was imposed on Wu Xiaoan, then director of Brilliance Auto Group.
It is worth noting that Wu Xiaoan's detention and investigation coincided with the critical juncture of Brilliance's bankruptcy reorganization, which was the second day after Brilliance Group was approved for reorganization.
In November 2020, the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court ruled to accept the creditor's application for the reorganization of Brilliance Auto Group Holdings Co., Ltd., marking the official entry of the automaker into bankruptcy reorganization procedures. After several years of setbacks, in August 2023, the Shenyang Intermediate People's Court announced that it had ruled to approve the "Substantive Merger and Reorganization Plan of 12 Enterprises including Brilliance Auto Group Holdings Co., Ltd." and terminate the reorganization procedures of 12 enterprises including Brilliance Auto Group.
On March 15, Brilliance China announced that 100% of the equity of Brilliance has been transferred to Shenyang Automobile, and the relevant industrial and commercial registration for the change has been completed.
According to the annual report, in 2023, Brilliance China will achieve revenue of 1.121 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.82%; Profit attributable to shareholders was 7.735 billion yuan, an increase of 8.23% year-on-year. According to the financial report, the decline in revenue was mainly due to the continuous decrease in the demand for the group's auto parts from traditional fuel vehicles.
It is worth mentioning that Brilliance China intends to declare a special dividend of HK$4.3 per ordinary share to shareholders. Based on Brilliance China's current total share capital of 5.045 billion shares, the company intends to distribute dividends of about HK $21.7 billion, equivalent to about RMB 20.16 billion. According to the relevant staff of Brilliance China, the source of funds is first from the previous transaction of selling a 25% stake in BMW Brilliance; The second is from BMW Brilliance's dividends.