2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 785 Wei Lai's Shareholding Reform Plan

Capital increase means share expansion. In fact, Tan Jincheng's capital increase this time was planned, or rather, premeditated.

Although the company does not plan to go public in the next few years, its revenue has already reached the 200 billion level, and the current equity structure is no longer suitable for its rapid development.

Tan Jincheng plans to take this opportunity to carry out a shareholding reform for the company.

This means transforming the existing Weilai Group into Weilai Co., Ltd., allowing Weilai to complete the shareholding reform, which will make it easier for them to go public in the future.

I had discussed this with Zhang Yong and other executives before. The reason why today's financial briefing was so cheerful was not only because of the significant increase in performance, but also because their shares would be put on the table.

The shares listed on the company's website need to be registered with the business registration authority. This is different from the shares signed internally within the company. Even if the company doesn't go public, these shares are enough to guarantee their livelihood for the rest of their lives.

How could I not be happy?

"The share reform is a good thing, it will benefit our future listing plans, and I support it. As for the capital increase, that's fine too, we don't need that much money now."

Xie Hongjun was the first to express his support. As the representative of the Beicang government's support for Tan Jincheng all the way, his current position is very secure, and no one dares to mention the Orange Technology incident again.

The capital increase was made proportionally, and as the largest shareholder, Tan Jincheng naturally couldn't ask for too much.

"I have no problems on my end either. Mr. Tan's idea of ​​shareholding reform is a preparation for listing."

Shen Nanpeng also followed suit, saying that investment institutions are not short of money. What they want to see is the hope of going public, and completing the shareholding reform through going public is the first step. If they can see the hope of going public, he is naturally willing to take money.

With the two largest shareholders agreeing, and the remaining physics research institute being their own people, there was even less to say. They didn't even bother to send a new representative, and Lu Ruifeng remained as their director.

The government doesn't really need your money, but they've already made a fortune from that 6% stake.

The top three shareholders, excluding ByteDance, have all agreed. The remaining two, Luzhou and Chuzhou, do not need to express their opinions. Besides, they also agree to the capital increase and share reform.

It's definitely too late before the new year. After the major shareholders all agreed, there's not much more to say about it. However, Luzhou is quite interested in the expansion of Tanjincheng.

"Does Mr. Tan really think that the development of new energy vehicles can be this fast?"

The planned Luzhou production base will focus entirely on new energy vehicles. In addition to the current Aion S, Tan Jincheng also plans to put the Weilai ES6 into production in Luzhou, increasing the overall production capacity of the Luzhou production base to 20 vehicles.

"I do have some say in this matter. I reckon Mr. Tan has a plan. You may not know this yet, but Mr. Tan, Mr. Ma, and Mr. Lei have invested in a ride-hailing company."

Shen Nanpeng responded with a smile that Kuaidi had not announced the second round of investment, but the move to integrate with WeChat and MiTalk could not be kept secret from the bigwigs in the investment circle. Shen Nanpeng also heard that Lao Ma was angry for a long time after hearing that Kuaidi had been snatched away by Tencent.

As a result, rumors circulated in investment circles that Tan Jincheng and Ma Huateng had a falling out because of Sun Tongyu. After all, when Sun Tongyu joined Orange Technology, Ma Huateng did indeed suppress him and even hastily launched the Double Eleven promotion, although the results were not very good at the time.

You should know that Chen Weixin was the one who first approached him to discuss this matter, but before he knew it, Tencent had snatched it away. Nobody would believe it wasn't because of Tan Jincheng.

Including Orange Pay, which was the first to be integrated, Kuaidi's app now has three payment methods. After receiving funding, they expanded rapidly. After introducing Gaode Maps' technology, their app has the most accurate location tracking.

Today, the Kuaidi app has almost completely dominated the ride-hailing market in Shanghai and Hangzhou.

After Tencent entered the market, Ali unsurprisingly chose Didi, located in Beijing. With both of them entering the market, they will inevitably engage in a money-burning war to cultivate the market. At that time, electric vehicles, which have lower daily operating costs, will definitely usher in a period of explosive growth.

It is indeed necessary for the Luzhou New Energy plant to expand its production capacity and improve its manufacturing process. If the production capacity explodes and cannot keep up, then we will be doomed.

"Is there still this matter?"

The two of them genuinely didn't know about this. Several parties, including Tencent, handled it discreetly, and since they weren't involved in internet investment, they were completely unaware of these matters.

Xie Hongjun chimed in, "That's true. You all probably remember the time during the National Day holiday when Tencent's Jack Ma and Xiaomi's Lei Jun came to Ningbo, which caused quite a stir."

Tan Jincheng nodded.

Weilai Auto belongs to him, and he can force it to start, but he still needs to explain the situation to the shareholders unless necessary. Although Luzhou is very important to Weilai, it is indeed difficult to understand why they would say in 2013 that they would start a new energy vehicle industrial base with an annual production capacity of 20 vehicles.

Aside from people like Boatman and Factory Manager Ma who firmly believe in electric vehicle technology, most people would probably think Tan Jincheng is crazy. Other automakers might just be bragging, but you're actually doing it.

Currently, BYD has not begun large-scale expansion of its new energy production lines.

"It's a bit early, and the production capacity of 20 is indeed not needed right now. However, all of my equipment is based on factory construction technology learned from BMW in Germany, so it will not be outdated for a long time."

"Furthermore, Mr. Shen is right. You should have all seen the explosive growth of our FlashChe electric vehicles in the second half of the year, right? That's growth against the market trend. Why? Because we've partnered with food delivery websites, and we provide the electric vehicles for their delivery riders."

"Everyone says that the internet industry makes quick money and doesn't produce goods, but in fact, if cooperation is done well, it can also drive the development of some local industries. This is true for electric vehicles, and it is also true for automobiles."

Tan Jincheng and Wang Xin have known each other for a long time. Although they are not close friends, they have a good relationship. In addition, Hongshan is a major investor in the A and B rounds of funding for a certain group. This year, they launched online movie ticket sales and food delivery services.

At that time, Tan Jincheng approached Wang Xin, hoping to bring some business to Shanchi. In addition, Shen Nanpeng also acted as a go-between. Since the big investor introduced the contractor, Wang Xin had to give him some face.

The surge in shipments of Flash Motors electric vehicles in the second half of the year was due to the addition of a major customer, Meituan. A portion of the 340 million vehicles shipped throughout the year were consumed by Meituan.

The effect of having an additional major client is very obvious. This year, Flash's market share exceeded 15% for the first time, reaching 16.19%.

With the development of Meituan, more food delivery companies will get involved. If they seize the opportunity, Flash Motors' electric vehicle business can usher in a new development opportunity. By the way, Ali was among the lead investors in Meituan's second round of funding.

To be honest, Alibaba is quite something. They were the first to support food delivery apps and ride-hailing apps. They were the first to invest in them, but in the end, Tencent snatched the market away from them.

In the end, Meituan also turned against them and joined Tencent's camp. The food delivery app they acquired ended up in a state of near collapse.

This is determined by their investment styles; neither Chen Wei nor Wang Xin are the kind of people who can be controlled or have their company's operations interfered with.

This also applies to those who sell their companies. If they find that Ahri is interfering too much in the company's operations and they cannot resist, they will simply take the money and leave.

The plan to improve the Luzhou Industrial Park was initiated in early 2013. In addition to considerations related to ride-hailing services, it was also a matter of "choosing sides".

During the acquisition and cooperation process of Nvidia, relevant departments provided a lot of assistance. In addition, the establishment of Weilai's overseas branch in Germany also received considerable help, not to mention that the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (Big Fund) also provided funding.

This assistance can be seen as a form of "standing on the side" to some extent, supporting Wei Lai's semiconductor business. Otherwise, it would have been nothing short of a pipe dream for Tan Jincheng to try to get into semiconductors based on just one idea.

Besides capital, technology is the most important factor in semiconductors. To some extent, Tan Jincheng's timing in getting involved in the semiconductor business was excellent. Since the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, the semiconductor industry has been in a serious crisis.

The subprime mortgage crisis, the European debt crisis, and the global economic slowdown came one after another, and the entire semiconductor industry, except for Intel, has not fared well.

However, the future trend of smartphones is promising, and big investors who emerge at this time, as long as they have strong backing, will be able to secure more resources.

Just like how Weilai's overseas branch settled in Germany, besides our own factors, our good relationship with the Germans in terms of technical cooperation has also played a big role. With the higher-ups acting as intermediaries, it can save Weilai a lot of trouble.

In addition, Weilai has cooperated with many German companies, such as BMW, Siemens and Infineon. When Infineon's subsidiary Qimonda went bankrupt, and they were in a hurry to dispose of global assets to pay salaries, their R&D center in China was taken over by Tan Jincheng.

At the time, Qimonda was developing a 46nm chip at its R&D center in Chang'an High-tech Zone. It was considered a cutting-edge product globally, more than three generations ahead of its domestic counterparts. After going bankrupt, it couldn't find anyone to take over the business.

Unfortunately, both the parent company Infineon and the German government refused to provide assistance, so everyone had to tighten their belts.

Infineon already had close ties with Siemens. When Tan Jincheng, who was working with BMW at the time, heard the news, he spent 4000 million yuan to buy it.

Tan Jincheng's behavior at the time was seen by his peers as that of a foolish and rich young man who dared to ask for more than 30% more than Langchao for something that nobody wanted.

In fact, Tan Jincheng didn't understand what 46NM was at the time. He had only heard of 7NM and 3NM. However, since it was three generations ahead, 4000 million yuan was not expensive. As for whether it was useful or not, he would buy it first.

The R&D center in Chang'an High-tech Zone is the foundation for Wei Laigan's semiconductor business; otherwise, this kind of thing can't be achieved simply by having money.

You could throw in tens of billions and not even hear a sound.

That acquisition left a good impression on Infineon and the German side, which led to the idea of ​​placing the company in Germany and laid the foundation for cooperation with Infineon.

Those who offer help in times of need are often more easily remembered. All of this is inseparable from support from above; it wouldn't have been possible to achieve such success with just a makeshift team like Wei Lai and Tan Jincheng. Now, with a new leader in charge and strong policy support for developing new energy vehicles.

At this time, the best way to express our commitment is for the companies that have performed best in the new energy vehicle industry this year to increase their investment.

The economy is inseparable from politics. Tan Jincheng doesn't touch politics, but he has to show his attitude. This is true for him, for the boatman, and even for Director Ma.

2012年度的埃安S加上ES6卖出去4000多辆，2013年度这两款车子的销量预期是8000辆，如果表现不错的话后续还会推出一些特别版本。

In addition, Tesla is almost certain to enter the Chinese market in 2013. Factory manager Ma has already informed Tan Jincheng that they will establish their own sales channels in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai after the new year.

The arrival of the Maodou S in China was a year earlier than its predecessor, which is largely due to the hot sales of the ES6.

Factory Director Ma couldn't sit still any longer and wanted to test the waters with the Maodou S. However, the Maodou S will still be sold in China as an imported model, and Tan Jincheng will also hand over Tesla sports cars to them.

They have already started selecting a location.

This thing sells about two or three hundred units a year. Factory Manager Ma doesn't make money in the US, but he still makes some profit in China by adding a markup.

Selling slowly is actually a good idea, but this was agreed upon with Factory Manager Ma long ago. The time when they enter China is when Wei will hand over the sales rights, otherwise it will affect their brand image.

It's easy to imagine that the new energy vehicle market in 2013 will be very lively. The BYD Qin is the transformation work of the boatman brother and the pioneering work of the BYD Dynasty series. It has already sold very well this year, and they will definitely increase their investment next year.

New energy vehicle owners more than 10 years from now may not understand what it means for a new energy vehicle to only go on sale in April and sell around 2000 units throughout the year. After all, if this number were announced more than 10 years from now, it would be laughed at.

However, back in 2012, it was truly a "blockbuster" product; the BYD F3 DM model hadn't achieved this level of success even after several years of sales.

The difficulty is much greater than a gasoline car achieving monthly sales of over 10,000 units after its launch. Recently, Brother Boatman has been interacting frequently with Tan Jincheng. In addition to paying attention to the competitor, he also hopes that the two sides can further enhance communication and make the new energy vehicle market even hotter.

BYD Qin and Aion S are direct competitors. They can fuel each other's marketing efforts and will not hold back when it comes to taking action. However, it is also a tacit understanding between them to expand and hype up the market.

Only when the market is big enough can we talk about competition; talking about competition now is a bit laughable.

Like Wynn, BYD is also increasing its investment in new energy vehicles. At the same time, domestic OEMs such as Chery and Geely have also announced that they will increase their investment in new energy vehicles.

Whether they are truly committed or not, this kind of publicity is a good thing.

After securing the major shareholders, Wei Lai still has a lot to do. The upcoming share reform involves many aspects, the first being the overall valuation of the group company. Shen Nanpeng's valuation method is just a rough idea.

There's nothing wrong with benchmarking against Great Wall or BYD, but those are listed companies, and they already have a premium. It will take until after the company goes public for us to achieve that premium.

"How about a valuation of 350 billion yuan? According to Mr. Tan, it will take at least two or three years to go public. We need to leave some room for the IPO, otherwise there won't be much room for growth."

Shen Nanpeng is an expert in this field. It is impossible for Weilai to be listed on the US stock market. If it were to be listed on the A-share market alone, what would the IPO amount be?
Given the current slump in the A-share market, it simply cannot accommodate the market without a bull market. Therefore, the most ideal approach would be to list both A-shares and H-shares simultaneously.

Regardless, it was a massive IPO project. BYD's valuation at the time of its listing was only 200 billion yuan, which was an astronomical figure at the time, which prevented them from listing on the A-share market.

Tan Jincheng thought for a moment and said, "No problem, let's calculate based on a valuation of 350 billion yuan. In addition, I plan to allocate 8% of the shares for employee and senior management stock ownership plans. Is that alright?"

These individuals have already agreed to contribute capital proportionally to increase the company's registered capital to 20 billion yuan, and they are willing to compromise on the valuation.

Shen Nanpeng's point is valid. The current valuation is too high, and the IPO may fail in the future. A large market capitalization is not necessarily a good thing, unless the business is spun off and listed separately, which would not be good for the company.

Tan Jincheng still prefers the group to go public as a whole, like BYD and Great Wall Motors, so that the funds raised can be better planned and utilized.

"As for the traditional culture of the Flash series, there's even less of a problem with that. We will still strongly support President Tan's work."

This time, Luzhou was the first to receive support. Tan Jincheng's decision to invest heavily in Luzhou makes perfect sense, and it's a great thing for him. If the investment goes through, his position will be even more secure.

Look at Chuzhou. Because of Yangzi Motors and Tan Jincheng, there has been a lot more investment attraction. Mr. Tan has a wide network of connections in the industry. He can easily introduce two supply chain companies there.

However, what he said is indeed correct. This has always been a tradition of the Flash series. Tan Jincheng himself is not a technical person. If we really have to say which school of thought he comes from, it would be more appropriate to say that he comes from the marketing school.

For those who aren't tech-savvy, the best way to get tech-savvy people to work hard is to give them shares. Tan Jincheng used this tactic from the very beginning, and it was indeed effective. With shares, everyone becomes a boss, and there's no reason why they wouldn't work hard for the company.

"Then there's nothing more to say. I'll have the company start preparations, and we'll complete the shareholding reform as soon as possible after the New Year, how about that?"

"No problem, we'll go back and prepare the funds and transfer them to you, Mr. Tan, as soon as possible."

"Alright, then I'll leave it to you all."

With only ten days left until the Chinese New Year, it was definitely too late to finish before the New Year. Tan Jincheng's plan was to complete the company's shareholding reform before March 1, 2013, and officially enter a period of rapid expansion in the second quarter.

"No trouble at all, it's our duty as shareholders."

Tan Jincheng made some concessions on the valuation, which is actually a good thing for them. Although it will dilute some shares, if nothing unexpected happens, the IPO size will be at least 500 billion when Weilai goes public.

A star-studded IPO brings not only massive profits to the original shareholders, but also an increase in their status within the investment community.

Whether the IPO is successful or not doesn't really matter to Tan Jincheng. He already has two listed companies under his actual control, so having one more won't make much of a difference. But it's different for them.

Following the financial briefing, the CEO of Weilai Group took the opportunity before the end of the year to announce Weilai Group's investment plan for 2013.

With an investment of 30 billion yuan and two factories, the improvement plan for the Luzhou Industrial Park is the most eye-catching.

Of the 30 billion yuan investment, 20 billion yuan is invested in Luzhou, which will become an important industrial base for the group in the future, including new energy vehicles and lithium battery factories. Weilai Group has increased its investment in Luzhou.

Good heavens, this has made people in Anhui Province and Luzhou extremely excited. This fellow villager is really giving us face; he's really voting!

And this is only the first phase of Wei Lai's project.

So, Tan Jincheng and his family were invited back to Anhui Province to watch the Spring Festival Gala. He originally had no plans to return to Anhui Province for the Spring Festival this year, but he couldn't resist such a warm invitation.

The provincial Spring Festival Gala is two days earlier, and Tan Jincheng has never participated in one before, so it's still a bit of a novelty for him; of course, the main reason is that his father, Tan Lihua, really likes the invitation, wanting to show his face in front of the people of the whole province and let his old friends see him too.

The MiTalk ads on CCTV's Spring Festival Gala have been replaced by WX. In addition, WX is also urgently developing a red envelope function, striving to promote WX Pay through red envelopes in 2014, and then launch its first challenge against Alipay by distributing red envelopes to people all over the country during the 2014 Spring Festival Gala.

This was the surprise that Tan Jincheng had promised to give Pony Ma when they were discussing the acquisition. Pony Ma and Lei Jun were overjoyed after hearing it.

For a moment, Lei Jun even regretted selling MiTalk too early.

For a moment, Pony Ma even felt a little scared. If the two-pronged attack had been used against MiTalk, MiTalk's user base could have reached at least 5 million. Although it would still be in second place, it wouldn't be so easy for WX to defeat it.

When Tan Jincheng revealed the marketing strategy of launching two consecutive campaigns over two years, Pony Ma, who had been silent for a long time, only replied that the $25 billion was well spent.

As for why Orange Payment doesn't do that, he didn't ask and didn't need to ask. He knew that Tan Jincheng had always been detached from the internet.

Otherwise, the cooperation between the two parties would not have been so pleasant.

Of course, Ma was also a generous person and wouldn't use Tan Jincheng's marketing plan for nothing. After returning, he privately transferred 100 million yuan in cash to Tan Jincheng.

Spending the Lunar New Year in Luzhou was a first for both of Tan Jincheng's lifetimes, and it was full of novelty. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, he even took his family to see a movie called Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.

The movie Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which was released on the first day of the Lunar New Year in 2013, has set numerous records since its release.

Tan Jincheng was deeply impressed by the movie. After leaving the theater, his biggest feeling was that everything seemed to have returned to the era he was familiar with.

Twenty years is too far in the past, but he still has a deep impression of the last ten years.

What can a familiar environment bring to an unfamiliar lieutenant?

(End of this chapter)