2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 729 Weilai New Energy Group, Launched!

"Neither of these companies raised a very large amount of money in their IPOs, so they definitely had a budget. Did the boss think of this because of Apple's sharp drop last night?"

Apple's stock price plummeted during trading last night, stunning the world.

However, the stock price recovered in the final minutes of trading, with Apple closing at $246.25, down 3.8% for the day.

The two securities accounts suffered considerable losses last night, but the additional positions added later have already been profitable.

"Yes, let's subscribe to some, and also see if any other shareholders have transferred their shares. If our budget allows, we'll subscribe to more."

"Isn't there Changying Precision? Why not buy that?"

The newly established ChiNext board has attracted much attention from the financial market in the past two years. The quality of the first two batches of listed companies is quite good. As the head of investment in the primary market, Huang Ming knows exactly which companies are in the IPO queue.

The companies that went public in the first two rounds each had a relatively small fundraising scale, and ByteDance's advertising platform had the qualifications to participate in offline subscriptions and roadshows.

Even if some of the first batch of 28 companies will be delisted later, there's nothing to worry about when they first go public. Tan Jincheng's advice to Huang Ming is to acquire shares in all the companies that have been queuing up for listing on the ChiNext board in the past two years, regardless of how many.

Companies like EVE Energy, which have lithium-related concepts, are trying every means to acquire more shares. Among the first batch of listed companies, ByteDance holds the most shares in EVE Energy, with 440 million shares, accounting for 5%.

Even if Tan Jincheng didn't say it, Huang Ming paid special attention to the companies that went public on the ChiNext board this year. It was like picking up money. After smoothing things over, he could get some shares and then sell them after the company went public. That was all money.

Even tens of thousands of shares would be fine; every little bit helps. But since the boss brought it up himself, he's definitely asking for more shares.

"No need for this. I already own 5%, so it wouldn't be appropriate for the company to buy it as well. Their boss is from my hometown."

Chen Qixing of Changying and He Si of Yishite are both from the same hometown in the Anhui business community. Chen Qixing, like Tan Jincheng, is from Wangjiang. The two have interacted quite a bit over the years.

In 2008, Changying underwent a shareholding reform in an attempt to go public, but it was unlucky. After the audit, Changying's book assets as of 2007 were only 1.3 million yuan.

Of these, 6000 million were converted into company shares at a price of one yuan per share.

For most private enterprises, the purpose of shareholding reform is naturally to achieve a listing. For Changying Precision, listing is a must in order to seek better development.

Chen Qixing thought for a long time. In 2008, who was the richest person in his circle of friends? It must have been Tan Jincheng, who had just gone public with Orange Technology. He had a lot of cash on hand, so it didn't matter who he sold the shares to.

Tan Jincheng was quite straightforward. When Chen Qixing approached him, he directly spent 100 million yuan to subscribe for 5% of the shares, which solved Changying Precision's problem of insufficient working capital.

The actual value of Changying Precision is certainly not what the book assets show, but it would not be very high in 2008. Tan Jincheng paid a premium for the price of 100 million yuan, but it was not particularly outrageous.

In 2008, Tan Jincheng valued it at 20 billion yuan. Changying Precision missed the first batch of listings. With the latest IPO valuation, its market value is about 30 billion to 40 billion yuan.

The IPO was completed in two years, and Tan Jincheng's investment, at that time, had only doubled in value, which was not considered a particularly impressive investment.

Chen Qixing was also grateful for Tan Jincheng's straightforwardness. At that time, Changying was short of money, and many people wanted to buy his shares, but few were as straightforward as Tan Jincheng.

Between 100 million in 2008 and 200 million in 2010, he would rather take the 100 million in 2008.

Tan Jincheng's decisiveness in investing also began to spread among his friends around that time.

Zhu Xiaorui, who was also in Shenzhen, heard about Tan Jincheng's story and then tried to get in touch with him through a former colleague from Luzhou University of Technology.

That's how they got the 100 million yuan.

Investments within your social circle are like this: if you go too far, you'll lose that friendship. Unlike venture capital firms in the internet industry, where a few million can yield returns of tens or even hundreds of times the initial investment.

"Alright, I'll contact those two companies and try to get more shares."

Huang Ming was aware of the profits involved. Regardless of the Apple supply chain, he was guaranteed to make money after the IPO.

"Yes, try to get as many as possible. We won't sell these shares; they'll be very useful in the future, especially Luxshare Precision's shares. They'll definitely be entering Apple's supply chain."

At that time, Luxshare was not strictly speaking a company in Apple's supply chain; they were just taking on some OEM orders from Foxconn's downstream customers.

As a female worker born on the Foxconn production line in the 1980s, she is truly a legendary figure, far superior to any "Ms. Dong" (referring to a wealthy or influential woman).

After its IPO, Luxshare's development speed was truly phenomenal. Through various acquisitions, it entered Apple's supply chain and became the most powerful Apple supply chain company in China besides Foxconn.

After the Apple supply chain faltered, the company transformed into a new energy vehicle ODM manufacturer, developing consumer electronics in all aspects. In addition, it became the third largest shareholder of Chery Holding through acquisitions.

She went from being a factory worker to having a net worth of hundreds of billions, which is quite impressive. It's unclear exactly how she did it, but it's definitely not an easy feat.

Holding more shares, establishing a connection with such a self-made hero, and enjoying the profits from his business operations—it couldn't be more satisfying.

These days, listed companies have a smooth path to development thanks to the funds they raise. The funds raised are actually invested in company acquisitions and expansion, unlike some other listed companies that use them to buy financial products.

Take Flashpoint Technology as an example. After going public, they had money in their pockets and became sponsors of the World Expo. Putting aside their background as sponsors of the 2008 Olympics, Flashpoint Technology's pricing alone was the most outrageous.

Another issue is the price war. Hermes has enough money, and after a year of fighting, they don't dare to continue.

This is why companies like Aima have stopped engaging in price wars this year. They simply can't compete. FlashTech can always get cash to replenish its reserves. As long as gross profit margin isn't a factor, FlashTech can keep fighting.

"Well, if all else fails, you can buy back the shares from the original shareholders at the offering price. I believe they would be happy to sell."

This year's capital market has recovered a lot compared to last year, and valuations are also much higher. The valuations of the first batch of 28 companies listed on the ChiNext board last year were basically between 15 billion and 25 billion.

This year, the average valuation has reached 30 billion or more, with Luxshare Precision having the highest valuation at 50 billion, and its total share capital in its IPO prospectus reaching 1.74 million shares.

This is almost twice the total share capital of all companies currently listed on the ChiNext board, and it is also the company with the largest total share capital among all listed companies.

"In that case, the budget is a bit high. Just this one company will cost more than 200 million."

Many of the companies that were subscribed to offline last year have already sold off most of their shares. Although they don't hold many shares, they have made a lot of money. Currently, among the first batch of listed companies, ByteDance still holds shares in only a few pharmaceutical and materials companies, plus Huayi.

巨量引擎持有华艺0.01%的股份，总计336万股（4月28日高送转之后的股本），当时檀锦程是花了3500万元拿下的，目前市值1.04亿元。

Companies listed on the ChiNext board typically have a low total share capital at the time of listing. However, when it comes to high stock dividends, no one is as adept as these people. Companies that went public last October couldn't wait to implement a 10-for-10 stock dividend by the end of April this year.

"It doesn't matter. If we don't have enough money, we can sell Huayi. We're not the major shareholders, and we've held it for more than half a year. We've already given the favors we owe."

It's common practice in the capital circles to support each other before and after an IPO, leveraging each other's fame for publicity and making some money in the process. Because of Liu Yifei's situation, Tan Jincheng owes Huayi some favors.

By genuinely using cash and leveraging the reputation of ByteDance's advertising platform to support Huayi in the capital market, they have repaid the favor.

"Alright then, I'll sell off my shares in Huayi recently, which should be enough to raise enough for O-Film, saving the company some money."

The company certainly has enough funds, but since the boss has no intention of holding any more shares in Huayi, then let him sell them. Keeping them might increase their value, but there's no need for that.

Based on Huang Ming's observation, the boss's opinion of the company was probably not very good, as he always seemed to have some disdain when the topic came up in private.

Huang Ming didn't have a very good impression of this company either. The entertainment industry is too complicated. If it weren't for the fact that the boss's wife was friends with that spokesperson, he would have actually suggested that the boss change the spokesperson.

Flash Group's money comes from honest and upright sources, and the boss's rise to wealth is also clean and aboveboard. There is absolutely no need for them to get too involved with these people.

"Okay, let's do it this way. Also, you should follow up on the merger between Jinxin and Weilai recently. We need to resolve this as soon as possible, otherwise it will become too troublesome if it drags on."

ByteDance's advertising platform is the controlling shareholder of both companies, so Huang Ming must have known about the merger.

He deeply agreed with his boss's statement that if things weren't resolved quickly, there would be a lot of trouble later. The power battery technology had already achieved a breakthrough, and the sales of Weilai Auto were getting better and better. If it took too long, it would definitely be more difficult to reduce the shares of other shareholders.

Huang Ming is also a shareholder of ByteDance's advertising platform, Ocean Engine. The more shares Ocean Engine holds in the new company, the greater the potential for his personal wealth to appreciate, which is beneficial for both him and the company.

Nodding, Huang Ming said, "Okay, then I'll go talk to the people in Luzhou and try to reduce their shareholding to 3%."

"Just cater to their preferences. Chuzhou wants us to expand Yangzi Automobile's production, right? At worst, we'll just start the project directly. When you go to negotiate, just talk to the leaders in Chuzhou."

Chuzhou City Investment Group, or rather, the Chuzhou local government, is definitely not interested in cash compensation.

However, they would certainly welcome the project, especially the expansion project of Yangzi Automobile. Chuzhou has always wanted Weilai Automobile to implement it as soon as possible, but Tan Jincheng has been holding it back.

In hindsight, suppressing it back then turned out to be a lucky accident. "This method is not bad. Now, car projects are being launched everywhere. Even fraudulent projects are popular. We are expanding in a real way, which makes negotiations much easier."

Tan Jincheng couldn't help but chuckle; Huang Ming's mouth was so sharp.

The company called Youngman Automobile in Ham City had previously approached Huang Ming to invest together. Huang Ming thought it was a good business opportunity, but after visiting the company, he discovered it was a complete scam.

When she got back, she was furious and gave Tan Jincheng a good rant.

After hearing this, Tan Jincheng was shocked. This was the guy who caused a sensation on the internet in his previous life with the water-hydrogen car project. In addition to this, he was also the one who facilitated Sai Ling's 66 billion yuan fraud in a certain place in Jiangsu Province.

Good heavens! Out of curiosity, Tan Jincheng did some research and found out that this guy had been swindling people for a long time. However, he did start out in the legitimate automotive business, specifically the high-end bus industry in China, which he almost monopolized.

He approached Huang Ming because he knew that ByteDance had made many investments and had a lot of money. He wanted ByteDance to join him in acquiring Saab Automobile, and Huang Ming was quite interested.

Since Geely acquired Volvo, the investment and automotive industries have shown great interest in acquiring foreign car companies, especially well-known brands, in the past two years.

Huang Ming was no exception.

Tan Jincheng knew about this, but at the time he really didn't know it was this guy. The business card said Neoplan Vehicle Co., Ltd. in Ham City. He didn't pay much attention to it at the time and just asked Huang Ming to investigate.

Huang Ming was furious when he returned from his inspection. It was just an empty shell company with nothing to show for it. They wanted to acquire Saab, but they couldn't come up with the money. They were trying to get something for nothing by tricking Tan Jincheng.

It was only then that Tan Jincheng realized that this guy was the same fraudster who would later play with the abstract water-hydrogen car concept.

"Haha, you still remember this? Forget it, there are just too many scammers these days. Things will be much better in a few years when the internet is more developed, but investing will be even more difficult then."

The water-hydrogen car project, which clearly defies common sense, might have been easily fooled if it hadn't been accidentally reported by local media and uploaded to the internet.

This guy has used the same trick many times over the years and made a fortune.

If this guy could really replace oil with water, Tan Jincheng would really admire him, but is that even possible?
Projects that allow gasoline-powered cars and electric cars to coexist have been debated for so many years. To directly use water to represent oil is not only technically feasible, but also unacceptable to vested interests.

"Hey, his isn't even that outrageous. Boss, the level you're dealing with is different from the level I usually investigate. You have no idea, there are all sorts of monsters and demons there."

Huang Ming sighed. He used to work in the internet industry, where there are many scammers, but overall, they are not as sophisticated as those in the physical business world.

At worst, in the internet industry, one might misjudge venture capital and get scammed out of a few million dollars. But in the offline business world, it's really hard to guard against scams. Several times, if it weren't for the boss's verification, he would have fallen for it.

He didn't know how the boss figured it out; it seems those who run physical businesses really understand physical businesses.

"That's normal. The environment is much better now. If you had invested in a company 10 or 15 years ago and just waited for dividends, you definitely wouldn't have gotten a single penny back."

Before China joined the WTO, we didn't have any investment institutions at all. Why? Because we didn't have the right environment.

"In the future, when we invest in the primary market, we will try to wait until the company is about to go public or after it has gone public before investing. Although it is more expensive, it is safer."

ByteDance's current scale means it no longer needs to gamble on low-probability events; security is the most important thing now.

Negotiations with several investment firms are scheduled for next weekend.

After the merger of Plan A, Weilai New Energy Group will sell 30% of its shares, which will be allocated to five investment institutions, including Beicang City Investment and Sequoia Capital. Sequoia Capital will take 10%, leaving only 20%.

Tan Jincheng and Huang Ming split up. Huang Ming was responsible for securing Chuzhou City Investment to expedite the expansion of Yangzi Automobile, with the entire factory located in Langya District, and on the condition that a pickup truck sales company be registered in Chuzhou.

Chuzhou District simply couldn't resist this temptation. As of April this year, Yangzi Pickup sold a total of 9817 vehicles, firmly ranking among the top five, and its market share also rose to 7.8%, showing great momentum.

At this rate, Yangzi Pickup could truly regain its former glory and become a landmark enterprise in Chuzhou. They desperately want Weilai Automobile to increase its investment in Chuzhou.

It's just a few percentage points of shares; we can give them to him. The most important thing is to get the Yangtze Motors expansion project off the ground as soon as possible.

It's not just about expansion, it's about massive expansion. Pickups and SUVs share common technologies, and even though the current pickup market is small, it can easily take over SUV production due to overcapacity.

Or rather, there is a possibility that the Feiyang brand might be relaunched someday in the future.

If we take advantage of Weilai Auto's capabilities in the SUV field, we could easily modify this little brother, redesign it, improve its quality, and I dare not say that we could revive the Feiyang brand, but selling 20,000 to 30,000 vehicles a year shouldn't be a problem, right?

Unfortunately, Huang Ming dared not agree to this condition, because it involved the company's specific operations, and he had no right to interfere.

After thinking it through, the Chuzhou side was also quite helpless. Tan Jincheng sent Huang Ming as the negotiating representative, presumably because he had taken this into consideration.

However, even though Chuzhou holds a small stake in the cooperation with Weilai Automobile, it is still in a very weak position. The entire Yangzi Automobile accounts for a quarter of Langya District's GDP, and this could even reach half after the expansion.

If they really start estranged over a few shares, Langya District will be the first to object.

Under the exchange of interests, Chuzhou City Investment accepted the suggestion of holding 3% of the shares in the new company. As for the Institute of Physics, Tan Jincheng's first thought was not about the shares, but about the personnel relationships of experts like Lü Ruifeng.

Lu Ruifeng and others had actually been working away from the Institute of Physics for several years. If it weren't for the fact that Jinxin was always operating at a loss, Kayt and the others would have already transferred their personnel relations.

Tan Jincheng intends to use this merger opportunity to resolve this historical issue, as he feels more at ease keeping the core personnel in his own company.

Lu Ruifeng's new position is Technical Director (Vice President level) of the Power Battery Project Department of Weilai New Energy Group, with stock options. If the experts who came from the Institute of Physics transfer their personnel files here, their corresponding benefits will also increase.

Having worked at Jinxin for so long, these people are no longer so superstitious about the system. The salary and benefits here are good, there isn't much backstabbing in their daily work, and they even have a housekeeping team to take care of them in their daily lives.

As expected, the team brought by Lü Ruifeng all decided to sign contracts with the new company and receive stock options. The listing of Weilai Auto was a foregone conclusion, which was no different from a retirement pension.

The Institute of Physics had no objections to the personnel arrangements of Lü Ruifeng and others. Lü Ruifeng was a highly paid expert, so there was no power struggle involved. As for the others who followed Lü Ruifeng to Jinxin, a large part of the reason was that they were either marginalized or lacked work experience.

In a sense, Tan Jincheng's actions can be seen as reducing the burden on the Institute of Physics. The institute's staff positions are very valuable, and the fact that so many positions have been freed up at once has relieved the institute's leaders.

After several days of discussion, the Institute of Physics decided to retain 6% of the shares, with the remainder to be paid to the Institute of Physics in installments in cash and through donations to projects.

“Let’s take 7%. After all, I’m a major shareholder of Flash Group, so I need to have a big picture perspective.”

After a moment of contemplation, Xie Hongjun replied that, to be honest, he also wanted to take 10% of the shares, but Tan Jincheng only planned to give up 20% of the shares.

The shares of the Institute of Physics have been reduced to half, and the shares in Luzhou have also been reduced to 6%, a decrease of 40%, so he couldn't say anything more.

Flash has many businesses in Luzhou and even throughout Anhui Province. Xie Hongjun didn't know how Tan Jincheng had persuaded these two families, but it would be unreasonable for him to show no interest at all.

"Thank you so much for your support, brother. Don't worry, I'll remember this. As for the rest, we'll just follow the procedures."

Tan Jincheng clasped his hands together in gratitude, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

The city investment company and the physics institute used their respective advantages to break into each other one by one, maintaining their shareholding at the critical 68% mark.

In accordance with the requirement that A-share listed companies must guarantee 25% public shareholding, ByteDance's advertising platform, after being diluted by the listing, still holds 51% of the new company's shares, thus ensuring absolute control.

As for listing overseas, that's even more convenient, since there's no minimum shareholding requirement.

Xie Hongjun waved his hand and laughed, "Haha, no need for that. We're just doing normal work handover. It's not like we're helping each other out. But next time you subscribe to shares of those listed companies offline, take me with you."

"Haha, that's easy to do. The city is setting up a bonded zone, right? We can partner up and set up a new investment company there."

When it comes to connections for offline subscriptions in the primary market, Beicang City Investment is not as extensive as ByteDance. You may be a dominant force in the Beicang area, but other cities won't pay attention to you. Without an introduction from an acquaintance, you can't just take the shares as you please.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng had browsed through the shareholder lists of some listed companies in Ningbo, Beicang, and even Zhejiang Province when he was bored.

Many newly listed companies, especially those in Beicang, have the presence of companies like Ningbo Meishan Free Trade Zone XX Investment Company and XX Partnership Company.

"That's a good idea. I'll discuss it with Mr. Huang."

Xie Hongjun thought for a moment and then agreed. In the past two years, the listing environment has become more relaxed. ByteDance has made a fortune by participating in a large number of offline subscriptions and share purchases through the connections of Tan Jincheng, Huang Ming and Cheng Linfeng, which has long made him envious.

In the course of societal development, resources and connections can indeed be exchanged for money.

(End of this chapter)