One year after "getting on the bus", Zhou Hongyi, chairman and CEO of 360 Company, made a "retreat".
On the evening of June 26, 360 (SH601360, stock price 8.49 yuan, market value 60.664 billion yuan) announced that in order to optimize the shareholding structure of Hezhong New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Nezha Automobile) and improve its governance mechanism, the company It is proposed to transfer the registered capital of Nezha Auto of approximately 79.9944 million yuan (without actual investment), corresponding to the transfer of 3.532% equity of Nezha Auto to Jiaxing Xinzhu Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), Shenzhen Jingcheng Open Enterprise Management Center (Limited Partnership) ).
It is understood that the equity transferred by 360 is part of the equity in the D1 round of financing of Nezha Auto last year.In June 2021, 360 invested 2 billion yuan in Nezha Auto as the lead investor. After meeting the prerequisites for delivery, 360 paid 1 billion yuan to Nezha Auto through its subsidiaries, and the remaining 1 billion yuan has not yet been paid. pay.What is unusual is that the consideration for the equity transfer of 360 is 0 yuan, which corresponds to the above-mentioned 1 billion yuan investment that has not been invested in Nezha Auto.After the transfer is completed, 360 still holds 11.4266% equity of Nezha Auto.
Regarding the "0 yuan to equity transfer" issue, Zhou Hongyi responded to the outside world a few days ago: "Nezha Auto is still a start-up company, and it is necessary to let the founder team lead the company's development instead of being completely capital-led, but now the founder team has too little equity. 36 Zero’s positioning is still to support and assist the team.”
Another point of view is that whether it is the "optimization of the shareholding structure" described in the announcement or the statement of Zhou Hongyi's "give way" founder team, they may be just "official excuses". Is there any concern about the continued loss of Nezha Auto? ?Or, the "shy money" 360 has been unable to add new fuel to Nezha's "burning money" road?
Optimizing the shareholding structure to impact IPO?
On June 27, Nezha Automobile's official Weibo also issued an announcement saying that it was concerned about the "Announcement on the Progress of Foreign Investment" by 360 Safety Technology Co., Ltd.The fund of part of the equity transferred by 360 this time has formed a concerted action person with the management team, which is conducive to improving the corporate governance structure, enhancing the control of the management team, and is more conducive to the long-term sustainable operation of Nezha Auto's various businesses.
According to the 360 announcement, Nezha Auto’s equity is relatively scattered at present, and the three largest external shareholders are Nanning Minsheng New Energy Production Investment (14.03%), Beijing Huading New Power (12.3%), Yichun Jinhe (9.98%), The investors behind it are all local state-owned assets.
On the other hand, Tongxiang Zhonghe, Shanghai Zhe'ao Industry and founder Fang Yunzhou, who represent the founder team, together hold only 7.2% of the shares.However, Zhang Yong, the co-founder and CEO of Nezha Automobile, responded that the information on the holdings was inaccurate, and his team held more than 20% of the shares.
In contrast, as of the end of 2021, Li Xiang, the founder, chairman and CEO of Lixiang Auto, has a personal shareholding ratio of 19.7% and 71% voting rights; when NIO went public in 2018, its founder and chairman , CEO Li Bin holds 17.2% of the shares. As of February this year, his shareholding still accounted for 10.6%, accounting for 39.0% of the total voting rights.
In addition, the relevant person in charge of Nezha Automobile said in an interview with the "Daily Economic News" reporter that Nezha Automobile is promoting the industrial and commercial change of this round of financing, and will quickly start the company's shareholding system reform.
In February this year, according to a report by the Financial Associated Press, people familiar with the matter revealed that the main body of the Nezha brand, “Hezhong Automobile”, has officially launched the Hong Kong stock market listing plan, and plans to raise US$1 billion. The sponsors are CITIC, CICC, and Morgan Stanley. and UBS.In response to this news, Hezhong Motors responded that it is not known at the moment, and any news will be released as soon as possible.
Although Nezha Auto did not make a clear response to this news, speculation in the industry believes that this share transfer may be the result of Nezha Auto's further optimization of its shareholding structure in order to seek listing.Because usually, the purpose of the company's shareholding reform is to establish a modern enterprise system with clear property rights, clear rights and responsibilities, separation of government and enterprise, and scientific management, and to provide the institutional basis and entity qualifications for the successful listing and financing of enterprises.This may mean that Nezha Auto is preparing for the IPO.
However, what is the relationship between the transfer of shares of 360 and the restructuring of Nezha Automobile?If this part of the shares is not transferred, will it affect the latter's share restructuring or subsequent listing?In this regard, Shen Meng, executive director of Chanson Capital, told the International Finance News: "The so-called optimization of the shareholding structure is only an official pretext. Even if 360 shares more than 90% of the shares in Nezha Auto, it will not prevent its listing." In Shen Meng's view, 360 is not going to continue to invest, it may be because its internal investment plan has changed.
Nezha Auto loses 4.2 billion yuan in two years
Even if it gives up its holdings, 360 is still one of the biggest winners of Nezha Auto after its IPO.According to public information, 360 currently holds an 11.4266% stake in Nezha Auto, with a corresponding valuation of about 3.245 billion yuan.360's previous investment of 1.9 billion yuan has floated over 1.3 billion yuan. Even if it is calculated based on the valuation of Nezha Auto's Pre-IPO round of financing of 45 billion yuan, the corresponding valuation of 360's shares has risen to 51.42 billion.
In the past two years, Nezha Auto has also performed outstandingly in market sales, and has repeatedly entered the forefront of the monthly sales list of new car manufacturers.According to data from the China Passenger Transport Association, in May, Nezha delivered about 11,000 vehicles, ranking second in the sales list of new car-making forces in May, second only to Lili Auto.From January to May 2022, Nezha Auto delivered a total of about 50,000 new cars, a year-on-year increase of 213%.
Although Nezha has successfully entered the first echelon in terms of sales, its "gold content" may still be insufficient compared to the top new car-making forces such as "Wei Xiaoli".
In fact, the early products of Nezha Auto were mainly aimed at the B-end market such as official vehicle procurement and group purchase of enterprises and institutions.In July 2018, its first car, N01, officially rolled off the assembly line at the Tongxiang factory, with the main orders coming from shared travel companies.In 2018 and 2019, Nezha "relied on this car alone", and the B-end market sales accounted for about 50% of the company's sales."It was difficult for the company in the past two years. At that time, the factory, the supply chain and the entire company could only be operated through N01. Otherwise, the company would have no chance," Zhang Yong once said publicly.
Following the N01, Nezha successively launched the Nezha V series with a price of 74,900 and the Nezha U series with a price of 117,800.In terms of price, it is mainly aimed at the domestic low-end market, but thanks to its high cost-effectiveness advantage, Nezha Auto has successfully entered the C-end market. According to Nezha Auto's data, in 2021, its personal Users have accounted for 83%, and the conversion from the B-end market to the C-end market has been completed.Zhang Yong said that the key word of Nezha Auto in 2022 is "upward", which will achieve product development, brand development, and target market growth.
However, the "upward" burden of Nezha cars is huge.According to the announcement of 360, as of the end of 2021, Nezha Auto has total assets of 13.69 billion yuan, total liabilities of 8.328 billion yuan, and net assets of 5.362 billion yuan; in terms of performance, the company will achieve revenue of 5.735 billion yuan and net profit in 2021. The loss was 2.908 billion yuan, an increase of 1.58 billion yuan compared with the previous year's loss, and the total loss in the two years reached 4.22 billion yuan.This may mean that in 2022, Nezha Auto, which uses "upward" as the key word, may still not be able to usher in a turning point in profitability, and even if 360 continues to perform its investment of 1 billion yuan, it will only be enough for Nezha Auto to "burn" about four months.
"Nezha Auto's high loss status is another important reason for 360 to decide to transfer equity at a consideration of 0 yuan." Cao He, president of Quanlian Automobile Investment Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., said in an interview with reporters.
Shen Meng also believes that behind the transfer of shares by 360, it may be that the current development of the new energy vehicle market has gradually formed differentiation, and the competitiveness of Nezha Auto has been weakened and is no longer attractive enough.
Every reporter Dong Tianyi every editor Sun Lei
(Editor in charge: Jiang Ninglu)
