Gree Electric’s major shareholder wants to buy Changyuan Group to set foot in the automobile industry or trigger a new round of father-son dispute.
■ Our reporter Jia Li
An announcement once again made Gree’s father-son dispute surface.
Recently, Changyuan Group announced that Gree Group intends to launch some offers to all shareholders of the company, and this tender offer is not aimed at terminating the listing status of the company.
However, Gree Electric, a listed company of Gree Group, reacted quickly and distanced itself from this matter. Its secretary-general declared: "(This acquisition) is an action at the group level and has nothing to do with listed companies."
An insider of the Gree Electric Securities Department told the Securities Daily reporter: "We only learned about this acquisition through the announcement. The whole thing was operated by Gree Group and we did not participate."
However, it is worth noting that Changyuan Group, which Gree takes a fancy to, has been expanding in the field of intelligent equipment manufacturing for electric vehicles in recent years, which is also the main direction of Gree Electric’s current expansion and one of its diversified key layouts.
The insiders believe: "If Gree Group takes the shares of Changyuan Group into its pocket, it may be interested in getting involved in new energy and smart equipment business. The new field that Gree Group wants to enter completely coincides with the new layout of its subsidiaries. "
If Gree Group wants to get involved in new energy vehicles, why not put it in Gree Electric, which has already laid out in these fields? Why do you want to enter this field when you know that Gree Electric has already started these businesses? Gree Group’s intervention in Changyuan Group is intended to hold shares or just to participate in shares. Will it trigger the change of Changyuan Group’s controlling stake? There are many speculations about the actions of Gree Group.
Why is it a new energy vehicle?
Changyuan Group, which Gree Group looks after this time, has three business segments: electric vehicle related materials, smart factory equipment and smart grid equipment. In 2017, Changyuan Group achieved a total revenue of 7.36 billion yuan from its main business, of which these three business segments accounted for 27.67%, 33.02% and 39.31% respectively.
According to the data, four subsidiaries of Changyuan Group are involved in the related materials business of electric vehicles. The main products include electrolyte additives for lithium-ion batteries and wet separator products for lithium-ion batteries. The products of its subsidiary Changyuan Shenrui cover electric vehicle charging system, electric vehicle charging pile and energy storage system.
Liu Buchen, an observer of the home appliance industry, said: "Although Gree Group has not fully indicated whether it will hold Changyuan Group, it is likely to lay out the new energy automobile industry chain with this tender offer."
According to public information, Gree Group has three business segments: electrical appliances, industry and real estate.
Gree real estate, the original platform of Gree Group’s real estate business, was spun off by Gree Group several years ago. At present, Gree Group only owns electrical appliances, a small number of industries and tourism.
Statistics show that Gree Group’s revenue last year was about 150 billion yuan, and Gree Electric’s revenue was 148.2 billion yuan. In other words, Gree Electric contributed most of the revenue to Gree Group.
"Except for Gree Electric, Gree Group is basically a holding company at present, with no substantive business, and it also needs to quickly develop new business and reduce its dependence on Gree Electric." A person close to Gree Group revealed.
At the same time, the information given by Changyuan Group also revealed Gree Group’s interest in new energy business. Ni Zhaohua, secretary-general of Changyuan Group, said that Gree Group offered to acquire Changyuan Group because it was optimistic about the company’s three business segments. There is no positive response to whether the two sides will join hands to get involved in the automobile industry chain.
A new round of competition?
In fact, in recent years, Gree Electric, a subsidiary of Gree Group, has also made great efforts to lay out automobile air conditioners, energy storage equipment and other related products in the new energy automobile industry chain.
Gree Electric had previously intended to acquire Zhuhai Yinlong, but it ended in vain. However, it signed a big contract with Zhuhai Yinlong, and entered the field of new energy vehicles hand in hand, and Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric, also invested in Zhuhai Yinlong from his own pocket.
It is reported that Zhuhai Yinlong’s main business focuses on lithium battery materials and extends to the upstream and downstream links such as research and development, production and sales of lithium batteries, electric vehicle powertrain, vehicle manufacturing and smart grid energy storage systems.
Although Gree Electric said that the acquisition was solely operated at the group level, it had nothing to do with Gree Electric. However, the business involved in Changyuan Group, which Gree Group takes a fancy to, almost completely overlaps with the layout of new business areas in Gree Electric in the past few years.
"The new fields that Gree Group intends to set foot in are completely coincident with the new layout of its subsidiaries. The parent company and its subsidiary are doing the same thing, which may trigger a new round of father-son dispute. If Gree Group successfully acquires Changyuan Group or even controls it, it will also trigger horizontal competition. " Liu Buchen thinks.
Industry insiders speculate that the acquisition of Changyuan Group by Gree Group is meaningful, or related to its control over Gree Electric and the upcoming new round of general election in Gree Electric.
Has been quietly deployed?
At present, the adjustment of personnel structure in Gree Electric has also ushered in a critical period. Gree Electric’s current board of directors will expire at the end of this month. Whether the members of the board of directors will usher in a round of adjustment and whether Dong Mingzhu can be re-elected as chairman of Gree Electric has aroused heated discussions in the industry.
However, Gree Group has acted frequently in personnel in recent years, or is sending some kind of signal. In October 2016, 63-year-old Dong Mingzhu was removed from the position of chairman, president and legal representative of Gree Group, and was replaced by Zhou Lewei, executive deputy head of Jinwan District of Zhuhai City and deputy director of the Municipal Aviation Industry Park Management Committee. In August, 2017, Zhuhai Municipal Committee established the first party organization in Gree Electric, and appointed Li Xupeng, deputy director of the Bureau of Science, Technology and Industrial Informatization and a member of the party group, as deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Zhuhai Gree Group and secretary of the Party Committee of Gree Electric. This series of actions is interpreted by the outside world as Zhuhai is strengthening its control over Gree Electric.
At the same time, it is worth noting that in the 2017 annual report just released by Gree Electric, Huang Hui, the executive president, became the executive vice president, which caused many speculations. In August last year, under the nomination of Dong Mingzhu, Huang Hui was promoted from executive vice president to executive president. At the same time, he is also the director and chief engineer of Gree Electric, and is regarded as Dong Mingzhu’s successor by the industry.
However, according to the person close to Gree Group mentioned above, "At present, it is very likely that Dong Mingzhu will be re-elected as the chairman of Gree Electric. This means that this time Gree Electric is re-elected, Zhou Lewei still has no chance. Gree Group currently needs to make achievements in new businesses that have not yet achieved results in Gree Electric as soon as possible and establish the influence of Zhou Lewei. "
Dong Mingzhu, Chairman of Gree Electric