2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 605 The Last Piece of the Puzzle Before the IPO

After the Guangzhou Auto Show, Zhang Yong's days became even busier.

The boss was busy with financial restructuring, while he was going to Xiangcheng and other cities to take over Changfeng Group's vehicle production base and parts production base.

The industrial base in Jingmen still belongs to Changfeng Group.

Of the remaining four cities—Xiangcheng, Yongzhou, Hengyang, and Huizhou—Yangcheng is the closest to Huizhou, so Zhang Yong headed to Huizhou from Yangcheng after finishing his auto show activities.

Changfeng Huizhou Co., Ltd.'s business scope includes office equipment, household appliances, building materials, construction materials, and its main product, auto parts.

In addition, Huizhou Co., Ltd. has two subsidiaries, namely Automotive Steering System Co., Ltd. and Cheetah Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., which are essentially shell companies used for convenient transactions.

Separating production from sales is a common financial practice, and Flashpoint does the same. Larger companies typically have several such shell companies, which is normal practice.

The situation is similar for Changfeng Group's companies in other cities.

Taking over the business, changing the legal representative, and registering with the industry and commerce bureau—Zhang Yong is going to be very busy this winter.

"No wonder when my boss asked me to go home, he really meant it when he said he was too busy."

Zhang Yong, who was eating noodles with his assistant at a roadside noodle shop, joked with a smile that he had been working at Weilai for about eight or nine months, and in less than a year, he felt that the pace of his work had been faster than in the previous ten years.

"You're right. With a young boss, we really need to keep our energy up, otherwise our bodies won't be able to keep up," the assistant laughed.

The assistant was Zhang Yong's former assistant in Futian. He came out with Zhang Yong to start the business and was considered an absolute confidant.

That's right. They had dealt with large private enterprises in Futian before, but they had never seen one moving at such a fast pace. A car company had been established for less than a year, and before even building a factory, it had already acquired several legitimate brands through capital operations.

You could argue that Weilai Auto is a shell company, since it doesn't actually have a single car that it independently develops and produces, not even one that it copies. This is the most criticized and ridiculed topic surrounding Weilai Auto right now.

But Weilai Auto is not a shell company at all; in fact, it is a medium-sized auto company with a product line covering pickup trucks, SUVs, and sports cars. It even has three vehicle production bases.

Looking across the country, a car company with three complete vehicle production bases is definitely not a small company. As for brands, acquired brands are still their own brands.

This is what the boss accomplished in less than a year. Which car company can be this efficient in its early stages?

To be honest, Zhang Yong really admired this young boss who had recently been hyped up as the richest man born in the 80s. Before coming here, he had actually prepared himself for hard work and even prepared to live on the construction site for a long time.

But to his utter surprise, his boss built a vast empire for him in less than a year, while also putting him under immense pressure.

The construction of the Beicang vehicle plant, the establishment of Yangzi Pickup's new sales network, the renovation of the Xiangcheng and Yongzhou vehicle production bases, and most importantly, the plan to launch the Yuechi SUV series as soon as possible.

In addition, we also need to plan the channel development for Yuechi. It's easier said than done. These few items alone will be a very heavy workload for next year, not to mention that the boss often has some unexpected ideas.

Having been with the company for more than half a year, Zhang Yong had gained a general understanding of Tan Jincheng's style through his own observations and conversations with the company's senior executives. The young boss had a free-flowing and imaginative way of thinking, and was always coming up with a new idea.

As members of the company's management, there is no other way but to cooperate.

"By the way, Mr. Zhang, what should we do with the employees in Xiangcheng and Yongzhou?" the assistant asked, looking somewhat troubled.

Local subsidiaries are relatively easy to manage. They are not particularly large in scale. Although they are subsidiaries of state-owned enterprises, the actual benefits are just so-so, and the employees are relatively easy to manage. However, the employees in Xiangcheng and Yongzhou, where Changfeng started, are not so easy to manage.

Especially in Yongzhou, the problems with employees have been the most serious and difficult to deal with over the decades. In addition, the local people in Xiangcheng are quite tough and not as easy to manage as those at Yangzi Automobile.

Zhang Yong was also very troubled: "Let's take a look first. If it really doesn't work out, I'll suggest to the boss that we sell the Yongzhou base back to Changfeng Group."

The Yongzhou base has limited production capacity, which can make do for the next few years, but it will become somewhat useless in the long run. Moreover, its position is not actually that good.

In Zhang Yong's view, it would be better to sell it to Changfeng Group to recover some funds than to keep it himself. At the very least, it would be better to entrust it to the local government, which would at least reduce a lot of operating costs.

In addition, Zhang Yong knew that during the last negotiation, the boss could actually give up the Yongzhou vehicle production base, which shows that the boss was not very optimistic about the Yongzhou vehicle production base.

"Let's go after we finish eating. Let's go to Yongzhou to meet them. Let's finish this quickly so we can get some rest." Zhang Yong finished the last mouthful of noodle soup, wiped his mouth, and said. It was already December, and the weather in Guangdong Province was still pretty good, but it was getting a bit chilly when we entered Xiangcheng.

The same applies to Ningbo in December.

Dressed in a suit, Tan Jincheng signed the final agreement with eight investment institutions and breathed a long sigh of relief. The last piece of the puzzle for FlashTech's backdoor listing was finally complete.

FlashTech issued 1.09 million shares to eight investment institutions at a price of RMB 11.01 per share through a private placement, raising a total of RMB 12 billion.

The 12 billion yuan will be used for the construction of Flash Technology's smart factory and the investment in a new electric vehicle industrial base.

"Everyone, let's take a group photo."

The reporters in the audience greeted him with smiles, saying that it was December and there weren't many big news stories in the domestic capital market so far, but the listing of Flashway Technology was one of the most eye-catching.

自11月24日复牌以来，长风集团一直到12月2日才打开涨停板，随后经过几个交易日的震荡，到今天12月5日收盘股价报9.47元。

Since resuming trading, the stock price has more than doubled, and as of today, the increase is 87.52%, making it one of the hottest stocks in the A-share market recently.

The private placement price of 11.01 yuan represents a 16.26% upside potential compared to today's closing price. Everyone, including the reporters on site, wanted to take a bite, but unfortunately, Changfeng Group's stock price has been fluctuating quite wildly recently.

From the perspective of retail investors, this is a shakeout, but knowing it is one thing and doing it in practice is another. Nobody knows whether they can control themselves.

Many retail investors, even those who hadn't yet broken even, sold their shares during this period of volatility.

The reporters at the scene were there for two reasons: first, to gather news material, and second, to try and extract any investment information from Tan Jincheng.

"President Tan, what will happen to the assets of Changfeng Group that you acquired? Will they be merged into Weilai Automobile?"

"Yes, the merger process is currently underway. Weilai Auto currently owns three brands: Sailing, Cheetah, and Yangzi Auto. All three brands have finished vehicles available, and customers can choose to purchase them as needed."

The Huizhou company has completed the change of legal representative and business registration, and other companies are also going through the process. This is nothing to hide, so Tan Jincheng openly admitted it.

"Sailing Auto doesn't have any exclusive dealerships in China right now. Does Mr. Tan mean you want to open exclusive dealerships in China?"

"Of course, now that we've introduced this brand, we naturally want to serve our domestic sports car enthusiast community well and provide them with more convenient services."

"Our current plan is to open one 4S store in each of the four cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We hope everyone can help us promote it."

What was supposed to be a signing and launch event for FlashTech turned into a topic about Weilai Auto. It's not exactly off-topic, since the two are closely related.

The entry of eight investment institutions is essentially a process of sharing the spoils. If you want the company to be stable, you have to give up something. In any case, 12 billion yuan is already a very good price.

As of November this year, FlashTech has sold a total of 167.79 million electric vehicles (excluding exports). This sales figure alone has already exceeded the total sales for last year, making it the undisputed sales champion for this year.

FlashTech's domestic market share is approaching 10%, with three industrial bases in the north and south, five core enterprises, more than 3000 employees, and more than 3000 sales and service outlets.

FlashTech, which has climbed to the top spot in national electric vehicle sales for the first time, is also a leading company in the global electric vehicle industry.

According to the market forecast of the Bicycle Association, the market size of electric vehicles in my country will reach 2500 million units in the next five years, and may approach 3500 million units in the next 10 years.

If FlashTech can maintain a 10% market share, its sales volume will exceed 300 million vehicles in the next 10 years, which is almost double the current volume. With such a large market potential, investing now is definitely a worthwhile investment.

At the same time, Tan Jincheng was also very fortunate. The amount of 12 billion yuan was not much, but it was good that there was nothing at all. This is the advantage of having someone in the upper echelons. Otherwise, FlashTech would not have been able to go public through a backdoor listing so quickly.

Don't underestimate a joke or a pat on the shoulder. If someone wants something from you, they'll have to negotiate with you properly and offer a reasonable price.

The reporters at the scene weren't fools; they wouldn't keep pressing the issue or ask pointless questions like how much money Tan Jincheng had. They had already heard a few days ago that Flash Group's public relations department had warned those two media outlets.

What "uncrowned king"? Compared to a prominent figure like Tan Jincheng, who has both physical and online media channels, no one without considerable influence is worth mentioning. If you push them too far, they might actually notify their entire company to stop giving interviews.

(End of this chapter)