This article was originally published by wumiancaijing
Author: Yang Yixuan
Editor: Chen Jian
Design: Lan Sheng
Baoneng's Boss Yao, is going to build a car again?
On July 16, Zotye Auto (000980. SZ) rose nearly 6% for the first time in a long time, but it is still cold among the rising auto stocks.
Its share price closed at $1.49, ranking at the bottom of the top 20 auto stocks that rose on the day. Since the beginning of this year, the share price of Zotye Auto has fallen by 50%, which is equivalent to halving.
In the past three months, Zotye Auto has been hovering below 2 yuan, and many investors are worried that it will be delisted at face value.
However, there are also some investors in Zotye Auto who are looking forward to it, and there are signs that this veteran car company that has undergone bankruptcy reorganization seems to be ushering in a new "white knight".
A few days ago, according to the first financial news, a number of senior executives of Baoneng Group and its affiliated company Shenzhen Jinshuo Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jinshuo Trading") have joined Zotye Automobile.
As early as March this year, there was news in the market that Baoneng was going to acquire Zotye Automobile. Now it seems that the possibility of Baoneng taking Zotye Automobile is increasing.
The reality is that several of Zotye Auto's car bases have long been shut down, and a total of 1,112 vehicles were sold last year, and what is most needed at present is a large capital injection.
And Yao Zhenhua's Baoneng Department has been in deep financial difficulties, and the publicly available amount of execution has exceeded 50 billion. Yao Zhenhua, who owes a lot of debt, how can he have the money to feed the money-hungry Zotye Auto? What is he looking for?
Belated collaboration?
The fate of Baoneng and Zotye Automobile actually began a long time ago.
At the beginning of 2021, on the website of the Bureau of Commerce of Linyi City, Shandong Province, an article entitled "Baoneng Working Group Comprehensively Carries Out Precise Docking Around Project Cooperation" was released, which mentioned that "the cooperation project between Baoneng Automobile and Linyi Zotye in the automotive sector has entered the stage of substantive negotiation". However, some media found out at the time that the message was quickly deleted.
▲A few years ago, Baoneng and Zotye announced the news of cooperation. The picture comes from the Internet.
In any case, this is regarded by the outside world as Baoneng has taken a fancy to Zotye Automobile's production base in Linyi, Shandong.
Zotye Auto's Linyi base was completed in 2015 and officially put into production in 2016. The year of production can be said to be the peak of Zotye Automobile, which sold 330,000 vehicles in one fell swoop and entered the top 10 of its own brands, but then began to decline.
After the news about the cooperation between Baoneng and Zotye was deleted, in November 2021, Great Wall Motors took over the Linyi production base. At the time, it was reported that the Linyi plant would be responsible for the production of Great Wall Motor's two latest models. In October 2022, the Linyi base was exposed to be suspended.
As for why Baoneng and Zotye failed to cooperate, it now seems that it may be related to the fact that they were in trouble at that time. In October 2021, Zotye Auto was in bankruptcy reorganization, and Baoneng Group also had a financial crisis.
In the past four years, the business situation of both sides has not improved substantially. But what I didn't expect was that since the beginning of this year, the news of Baoneng's investment in Zotye has continued to circulate.
In March, an investor in Zotye Auto asked a question on the interactive platform, "Shenzhen Jinshuo Trade HR replied that the cooperation between Zotye and Baoneng is underway, does the company know?" ”
In April, another investor asked that it was rumored that the major shareholder Shenzhen Commercial Holdings had docked with companies outside the Baoneng system, and the company had investors inject funds, is it true?
Of course, none of these questions were answered by Zotye Auto.
On July 12, according to the first financial report, a number of senior executives of Baoneng have joined Zotye Automobile, occupying key positions such as vice president of marketing, vice president of manufacturing, and chief financial officer.
The report also said that according to a number of people close to Baoneng Group, Hu Zeyu, chairman of Zotye Automobile, has come to Shenzhen several times to participate in a meeting chaired by Yao Zhenhua, chairman of Baoneng Group, with the management of Jinshuo Trading. However, the main content of these meetings is to "draw cakes" and "maintain stability".
A person from the securities department of Zotye Auto said that "Zotye Auto has no relationship with Baoneng and Jinshuo Trading", but there is still some news that can be used as evidence for Baoneng's intervention.
According to "Brother Dao Said Che" mentioned in a report, Zotye Automobile's Yongkang headquarters had been caught in a wage arrears turmoil, and the video circulating on the Internet showed that the employees who were owed wages surrounded the chairman of Zotye in the office, and some employees at the scene asked loudly, "Before Baoneng came, Zotye was normal, and Baoneng began to pay arrears as soon as he came."
From looking at the Linyi production base a few years ago to now stationing personnel in key positions, Baoneng's interest in Zotye Automobile seems to be greater.
Zotye Auto is short of money
What is the origin of Zotye Automobile, which Yao Zhenhua will never forget?
Founded in 2003, Zotye Auto occupies a unique place in the history of Chinese automobiles, which is mainly related to its origin.
Ying Jianren, the founder of Zotye Automobile, started with the auto parts business, and after deciding to build a car, he directly bought the production line of Toyota Reite, and as soon as the first car was listed, it was said to be a "copy" of Toyota Rei, but it was very popular in the market.
Zotye seems to have found the "secret" of making a car, and since then, the Zotye T600 that imitates Volkswagen, the Zotye Z700 that looks like Audi A6L, and the SR9 that makes Zotye wear the hat of "Portime", directly let Zotye stand on a high position.
In 2016, Zotye Auto's annual sales reached 330,000 units, and the following year, its sales still exceeded 300,000 units, but it has already declined. After all, it is difficult to go far by imitation, not to mention that there are new energy vehicles that have begun to impact the market.
Zotye auto sales continued to decline, and in 2019, it was halved compared to the peak. Losses also followed.
In 2017, Zotye Auto deducted a non-net profit of about 1.1 billion, but began to lose money the following year, deducting non-net profit of -1.241 billion, and in 2019, it suffered a significant loss of 11.131 billion, and lost nearly 12.4 billion in two years.
▲Zotye Auto has been losing money for several years.
As a result, Zotye Auto was in trouble, and at the end of 2020, the parent company, Tieniu Group, was ruled bankrupt and liquidated by the court due to insolvency. In October of the following year, Jiangsu Shenshang Holding Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jiangsu Shenshang) restructured Zotye Automobile with an investment of 2 billion.
Before the reorganization, the total asset appraisal value of Zotye Auto was only 310 million yuan, and the 2 billion reorganization investment included more than 1.2 billion shares converted into shares, 800 million yuan to supplement liquidity, and also to pay reorganization expenses and pay off debts.
In addition to continuing to lose money, its revenue has dropped from 20.8 billion in 2017 to 734 million in 2023.
In response to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's inquiry letter on the 2023 annual report, Zotye Auto said that only two of its 11 companies related to automobile manufacturing have production tasks in some months, and the rest are in a state of shutdown.
In terms of sales, Zotye Auto can be said to have fallen to the bottom, selling only 1,112 vehicles last year, including 42 new energy vehicles.
The predicament of Zotye Auto is also related to the unreliability of the restructuring investors. Huang Jihong, the helmsman of Jiangsu Shenshang, had previously acted as the "white knight" of the huge car, but did not pull the latter out of the quagmire. In May last year, Huang Jihong resigned as chairman of Zotye Automobile, leaving behind the "lack of food and clothing" Zotye Automobile.
Yao Zhenhua, who has always been interested in Zotye Automobile, may have seen an opportunity.
However, according to media reports, Yao Zhenhua did not invest directly through Baoneng, but participated in the operation through the "curve" of Jinshuo Trade, and may hope to use the power of capital from all parties.
Zotye Automobile has gone through ups and downs in the past few years, whether it is a "pick-up man" or a collaborator, it should be very welcome. After all, the current situation no longer allows it to choose.
In July this year, Tianyancha showed that Zotye Automobile and its subsidiaries Hunan Jiangnan Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Hunan Jiangnan Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Chongqing Branch added a new piece of information on the person subject to execution, with an execution target of more than 90 million yuan.
If Baoneng really has the heart to "revitalize", there is really not much time left for it. You must know that the share price of Zotye Auto has been below 2 yuan in the past three months, and if there is no substantive action, it is a matter of time before the face value is delisted.
Debt is overwhelming, Yao Zhenhua still has the heart to build a car?
If it was a few years ago, Yao Zhenhua wanted to win Zotye, which is really understandable. After all, his "dream of building a car" has also been done vigorously.
In 2017, Yao Zhenhua, who suffered a major setback in the insurance industry, began to look for a new business, and car building was quickly put on the agenda. In that year, Baoneng invested 6.63 billion yuan to acquire a 51% stake in Qoros Automobile, and two years later, it spent 1.56 billion yuan to acquire a 12% stake in the latter.
According to Yao Zhenhua's statement in 2022, a total of 53 billion yuan has been invested in self-raised car manufacturing. However, according to Jiupai Finance and Economics, a middle-level employee of Baoneng Automobile once said, "53 billion is an exaggeration, and the actual investment in Baoneng car manufacturing is far from this number." ”
In any case, after the start of car building, Baoneng began to build high-profile factories in various places, and was once suspected by the outside world that the car was built for land enclosure. But presumably Yao Zhenhua's investment should also be expensive.
In 2021, Qoros sold 5,200 units, less than 800 the following year, and only 23 in January last year.
As early as 2022, Qoros was also blacklisted by the Shandong Automobile Dealers Association.
As of September 2023, it has been reported that Baoneng owes more than 1.3 billion yuan in wages as a whole, including more than 700 million in the auto sector.
With a large investment in car manufacturing and a long return cycle, Yao Zhenhua may have the heart to build a car, but Baoneng is in a financial crisis, and he is powerless to reinvest.
Until now, Baoneng is still in a financial predicament.
Tianyancha shows that as of July 16, the total amount of execution of Shenzhen Baoneng Investment Group Co., Ltd. reached 41.918 billion, and the total amount of execution of Baoneng Real Estate Co., Ltd. reached 19.262 billion. Roughly calculated, the total amount of Baoneng has exceeded 51 billion.
▲Shenzhen Baoneng Investment Group Co., Ltd. was executed tens of billions. The picture comes from Tianyancha.
Where did Yao Zhenhua get the money to save Zotye Auto?
According to previous media reports, after Yao Zhenhua and his younger brother Yao Jianhui "separated", high-quality assets were all in the hands of his younger brother, including Hong Kong stock real estate platform Baoxin Land. Soon after the two "separated", there was a financial crisis in the Baoneng department, and it was rumored that Yao Jianhui may have given Yao Zhenhua a lot of help.
Even if he really has the help of his younger brother, if Yao Zhenhua really wants to win Zotye, he may not really invest much real money. After all, after Baoneng's failure to build a car, an employee revealed to the media that "Boss Yao's mind is not on building a car at all".
Now, Boss Yao is obviously unable to calm down and build a car.
Under the true and false news, it is the investors of Zotye Auto who have enjoyed at least a few red plates.