On June 21st, the stock price of cross-industry computing power hot stock Hongbo Shares (002229.SZ) continued its downward trend from the previous day at the opening. In terms of news, on the 19th, a hot search term "a family of seven cashing out 2 billion" brought Hongbo Shares back into the public eye. Following the release of this news, the stock price of Hongbo Shares fell during the trading session on the 20th, with a daily drop of 6.51%. As of the time of writing on the 21st, the stock price of Hongbo Shares was reported at 11.85 yuan per share, with a decline of 1.82%.
On the evening of the 20th, Hongbo Shares exclusively responded to the First Financial Daily, stating that the content was a false statement that misled investors.
Equity structure changes attract attention
The reporter noticed that the focus of public questioning is: currently, the sum of the equity ratio of the top ten shareholders of Hongbo Shares is less than 8%, and there is no single shareholder holding more than 2%; however, at the time of its listing in 2008, its top ten shareholders, especially those with the surname You, such as You Yuxian and You Lijuan, and their spouses, held more than 74% of the shares. After the listing, the You family, represented by You Yuxian, successively reduced their holdings of Hongbo Shares, and according to statistics, the You family reduced their holdings 11 times between 2012 and 2019, with the main reasons being "personal capital needs" or "investment in physical enterprises and capital needs for the transformation and upgrading of enterprise development."
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It is worth noting that after May 2019, the equity transactions of the You family were different from the previous reductions. The You family began to transfer the shares they held to Henan Yutong Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Henan Yutong") and Henan Huiyi Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huiyi Trade").
In response to the equity transfer, Hongbo Shares responded to the reporter from the First Financial Daily on the 20th, stating that this was a voluntary and commercial consideration between the two parties, and the entire process strictly followed the laws and regulations to ensure legality and compliance, which is not the "cashing out" claimed by the outside world. As for the multiple rounds of reduction by the You family, the company told the reporter that according to the company's latest shareholder register, there is currently no information on the holdings of "You family" members. The aforementioned persons reduced their holdings on a voluntary basis, and the reduction process was legally disclosed and strictly followed the relevant laws and regulations.
After several rounds of equity transfers, on December 29, 2020, Hongbo Shares disclosed the "Announcement on the Completion of the Transfer of Part of the Company's Shares by the Actual Controller," which showed that as of the date of the announcement, Huiyi Trade directly held 8.03% of the total share capital of the listed company; at the same time, Henan Yutong held 14.30% of the total share capital of the listed company, and Mao Wei, as the actual controller of the aforementioned two companies, became the controlling shareholder and actual controller of Hongbo Shares. This means that the "You family," who has been the actual controller of Hongbo Shares for more than 10 years since its listing, officially stepped down.
Two months after Mao Wei became the actual controller of Hongbo Shares, the equity he controlled was pledged, and then, due to legal disputes, the equity of Huiyi Trade and Henan Yutong controlled by Mao Wei was judicially deducted. "If Mao Wei's equity was mainly deducted during this period, then it must have been profitable. Borrowing money here and using equity to offset debts there, while bypassing various restrictions on reduction, it can be called perfect." The outside world questioned this.
In response, Hongbo Shares told the reporter from the First Financial Daily that as the actual controller, Mao Wei's equity was passively judicially deducted due to his personal debt issues. At the same time, the judicial deduction did not occur during the "equity pledge" period mentioned by the author. After the company's investigation, the original actual controller did not gain any benefits, and the false statements from the outside world misled investors.
In response to the dispute surrounding Mao Wei's equity operations, the reporter found after sorting out the announcements that in the following years after Mao Wei became the actual controller of Hongbo Shares, he continuously cycled through the "pledge - release of pledge - re-pledge" method with part of the Hongbo Shares held by Henan Yutong, and most of the pledgees were individuals; in addition, Mao Wei also pledged all 40 million shares of Hongbo Shares held by Huiyi Trade.On February 17, 2023, the latest announcement by Hongbo Shares regarding the "Unpledged and Pledged Shares of Some Shareholders" revealed that Henan Yutai and Huiyi Trade respectively pledged 3.5 million shares and 1.3 million shares to Zhu Qi, with the purpose of "capital needs." As of the date of the announcement, the pledging procedures have been completed.
However, looking at the timeline, the shares of Hongbo Shares held by Henan Yutai and Huiyi Trade have been subject to multiple judicial deductions starting from January 2024, which did not occur at the same time as the latest pledge disclosed in the current announcement by Hongbo Shares.
It is also important to note that the series of equity operations conducted by Mao Wei after taking over Hongbo Shares have attracted external attention. The announcement shows that just over two years after joining Hongbo Shares, Mao Wei began to transfer his company's equity. In April 2023, Mao Wei transferred 94.23% of the equity of Henan Yutai to Li Xiaolin and 100% of the equity of Huiyi Trade to Yang Kai. However, both parties entrusted the voting rights of their held shares to Mao Wei, and the actual controller of the company changed to Mao Wei, Yang Kai, and Li Xiaolin. Subsequently, Mao Wei resigned from the position of chairman of the company.
Claiming that the state without an actual controller does not affect normal operations
On February 28 of this year, Hongbo Shares announced that the company would change to a state without a controlling shareholder or an actual controller.
In response to the issue of a dispersed equity structure, the latest data provided by Hongbo Shares to the First Financial Daily reporter on the 20th showed that according to the company's current latest shareholder roster, the sum of the equity ratios of the top ten shareholders is 7.15%, and the overall proportion is indeed not high. However, the company denies the existence of "group decision-making."
This company, which started from lottery printing, has crossed borders many times in the past few years. Public information shows that in 2022, Hongbo Shares planned to cross-border acquire 51% of Guangzhou Keyu's equity and planned to add the research and development, production, and sales of household intelligent cleaning service robots after the transaction was completed. However, a few months later, Hongbo Shares disclosed the termination of the reorganization announcement. Since 2017, Hongbo Shares has continuously tried to cross borders, successively crossing mobile games, 5G, blockchain, sweeping robots, and other businesses.
The company's latest attempt is to cross-border compute power leasing, but Hongbo Shares has recently attracted public attention due to the dismissal of Zhou Wei, the CEO of its subsidiary company, Yibo Shuke Technology Co., Ltd., which undertakes related business. Zhou Wei is the key "middleman" in promoting the compute power leasing business cooperation between Nvidia and Hongbo Shares. According to people close to Zhou Wei, the cooperation on compute power that she led with Nvidia may change due to her departure.
On June 7, Hongbo Shares replied to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's annual report inquiry letter in the middle of the night, stating that the actual performance of the AI compute power-related contracts between its wholly-owned subsidiary, Beijing Yibo Shuke Technology Co., Ltd., and Beijing Jingneng International Holdings Co., Ltd., and other parties did not reach the contract agreement or the original plan progress. As soon as this news came out, the stock price of Hongbo Shares hit the daily limit the next trading day.
Under the current governance and equity structure, how will the company ensure that the decisions of the shareholders' meeting are conducive to the company's future development strategy?Hongbo Shares informed the First Financial reporter, "The company has established a sound governance structure and internal control mechanisms, ensuring the independence and standardized operation of the business. Currently, the absence of a controlling shareholder or actual controller does not affect the normal operation of the company. The company's decision-making follows democratic and transparent principles, with the shareholders' meeting, board of directors, and executive team exercising their powers in accordance with laws and regulations. The board of directors consists of 6 members, including 3 independent directors, ensuring a fair and open decision-making process that safeguards the company's interests and shareholders' rights."
Furthermore, Hongbo Shares also stated that the company currently has a standardized legal governance structure and the capability to operate independently. There is no situation where a single shareholder, based on their actual control over the company's voting rights, can determine the election of more than half of the board members or significantly influence the resolutions of the shareholders' meeting. The company's current equity structure and control structure are genuine and clear.
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