AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/18 Report--

According to the Interface News, Gaohe's parent company, Chinese Express, issued a working group announcement on the company's restructuring period on May 17, deciding to set up a restructuring working group and a joint operation working group. The reorganization working group will be responsible for the reorganization from equity to all operation-related activities, with four groups: shareholder-side affairs, government-side, supplier-side and employee-side; joint operation working group is responsible for the daily decision-making and operation of the company; there are seven groups of product planning, project design engineering, production and supply chain, marketing, finance, legal affairs, manpower and integrated functions.

It is worth mentioning that on the same day, Chinese Express and iAuto Group Inc. A comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement was formally signed on May 16, local time in the United States. According to the agreement, iAuto Group plans to invest more than US $1 billion in the first round of special funds to support the restructuring of Chinese American Express Gaohe Motors. The scope of cooperation between the two sides includes cooperation in production that is about to resume to fulfill sales orders, equity restructuring and mergers and acquisitions, cooperation in technology, research and development, engineering, integration of brands and marketing at home and abroad, integration of supply chain and manufacturing, and so on. With regard to this cooperation, Chinese American Express said that the specific information of the cooperation between the two sides should be based on the content of the official announcement. We have been working hard to push forward the relevant work.

There is not much news about iAuto Group in the domestic market. According to public data, iAuto Group, which invests in Chinese American Express Gaohe, has a lot of patented technology in the field of powertrain and motor systems of clean energy vehicles, and promotes the use of real clean energy to replace fossil fuels around the world. It is worth mentioning that the official website of "Automotive Industry concern" learned that iAuto Group is currently in a state of maintenance, and it is somewhat incomprehensible why Chinese Express cooperates with iAuto Group.

However, after searching for information from Automotive Industry concern, we learned that iAuto Group actually has a close relationship with Zhengdao Group, a listed company in Hong Kong. In September, 2023, Zhengdao Group announced that it had signed an agreement with iAuto Group to obtain the exclusive management right of iAuto Group in the Asian market. More importantly, the actual controller of iAuto Group is Yang Rong, while the chairman of Zhengdao Group is Yang Rong, which is, yes, Yang Rong, who once served as chairman of brilliance China Automobile.

In 1991, Yangrong set up a joint venture to produce cars in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, called Shenyang Jinbei bus Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Shenyang Automobile). Its main partners are Huabo Finance Company (Huabo), which is wholly owned by Yangrong, and Jinbei Automobile Holdings Co., Ltd. (Jinbei), which is owned by Shenyang municipal government. When the joint venture was established, Jinbei Motor had a 60% stake in Shenyang Automobile, Huabo Finance owned 25%, and another partner, Hainan Huayin International Trust and Investment Company (Hainan), had a 15% stake. Later, Huabo Finance acquired a stake in Hainan Huayin, making the ownership structure of Shenyang Automobile 60%, that is, Jinbei Holdings 60%, Huabo Holdings 40%.

Brilliance was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1992, becoming the first Chinese state-owned enterprise concept stock, issuing 5 million shares at an IPO price of US $16, raising US $80 million, and 51% holding Shenyang Jinbei bus, creating the first case of overseas financing of Chinese state-owned enterprises. Then, by virtue of capital operation, Yangrong successfully built a brilliance-based company, including at least four listed companies in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai, as well as a large number of unlisted companies, whose assets once reached 30 billion yuan and was once known as the "brilliance Maze".

But in less than a year, Yangrong fell from the scenery to the bottom of the valley. In 2002, the Ministry of Finance issued letter No. 5 (2002), confirming that all brilliance assets were owned by the state and allocated directly to the Liaoning provincial government. Since then, Yangrong has successively experienced asset inventory, dismissal, and leaving the United States. Until he was criminally approved for arrest by the Liaoning provincial government of China.

Yang Rong is currently the chairman of Zhengdao Group. It is not so much that iAuto wants to invest in high-tech cars, but rather that Yang Rong wants to use high-tech to return to the domestic auto market. Of course, there are many variables whether Yangrong can help Haohe out of its predicament. The 2023 results show that Zhengdao Group has no operating income and has an annual loss of HK $21.3 million. The announcement said that the uncertain macroeconomic environment and generally prudent and conservative market sentiment greatly stifled the development of the group's business. In addition, the Group has encountered unprecedented difficulties in raising funds for business development. In addition, the attitude of Chinese Express has not been finalized and is likely to be looking for new opportunities.

The question is, will Ding Lei really sell Gaohe to Yangrong, or will he just want to get funds? At present, Gaohe Automobile has lost its follow-up competitiveness. China's auto market has entered the knockout stage of integration, and only those enterprises that form positive revolving cash flow or have sufficient capital reserves have the opportunity to stay on the card table.

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