In 2003, Jiangbeizui across the Jialing River had not yet been connected and complementary to Chongqing’s traditional major CBDs. The Chongqing Municipal Government wanted to build Jiangbeizui into a seamless transportation network with three bridges and two tracks. , the city’s core business district. Also starting from that year, when you get off the Chongqing North Railway Station and walk along Yulu Avenue to Jiefangbei, you can see skyscrapers rising from the ground beside the once inconspicuous Beibin Road when passing the Huanghuayuan Bridge. rise.
Twenty years ago, Jiangbeizui would never have imagined that it would become Chongqing - the most precious 2.26 square kilometers in this increasingly valuable city, including two super-high buildings of approximately 150 meters. The Lifan Center composed of twin towers has become a new coordinate in the Liangjiang era.
The positioning of Jiangbeizui has gradually become clearer in the past two decades. Some leaders even sighed during the inspection: "There is Lujiazui below and Jiangbeizui above."
But that's it. Such a circle has made Yin Mingshan, chairman of Lifan Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Lifan Group), who was nurtured by the water of the Jialing River, a prisoner.
No one would have thought that in 2003, the sales revenue would be 4.58 billion yuan, the export earnings would be 203 million U.S. dollars, the motorcycle engine production and sales volume would be 2 million units, and it would have 848 domestic and foreign patented technologies. Its comprehensive strength would rank among the same industry in the country. First, Lifan Group, which also owns Chongqing Lifan Automobile Co., Ltd. and Chongqing Lifan Football Team, has more than 5,000 employees, and has assets of more than 1 billion yuan, is now standing one step away from the Yangtze River and is almost in despair. .
Who is rubbing salt on the wound
If they had not gone to find out, few people would have discovered that there is a row of devastated Panda cars parked in front of the Lifan Center (Chongqing Pan). Da Car Rental Co., Ltd.).
Panda Automobile was an important step in Lifan Group’s determination to transform into new energy sources. Now it seems that this not only proves the failure of Lifan's transformation, but also adds a pinch of salt to Lifan's already deep wounds.
In April this year, Panda Auto filed an arbitration application with the Chongqing Arbitration Commission, demanding compensation of 798 million yuan from Lifan Passenger Vehicle (Chongqing Lifan Passenger Vehicle Co., Ltd.), another subsidiary of Lifan Co., Ltd. The reason for the arbitration was that between 2015 and 2018, Panda Auto purchased nearly 10,000 new energy vehicles from Lifan Passenger Cars. However, serious quality problems such as serious battery degradation and design defects occurred during the operation of the vehicles, resulting in most of the cases. Vehicles malfunctioned and required long-term repairs, or even became inoperable, causing serious losses to Panda Auto.
After Panda Auto repeatedly tried to collect money from Lifan Passenger Cars to no avail, it initiated arbitration for its losses of up to 798 million yuan.
In fact, there are many doubts about this "internal strife".
Lifan Passenger Cars is a 100-controlled subsidiary of Lifan Group, and the Yin Mingshan family holds approximately 42.42 shares. Panda Automobile, founded in May 2015, is a new energy vehicle travel platform strategically invested by Lifan Co., Ltd., focusing on time-sharing rental services of new energy vehicles. Its main shareholders are Chongqing Huiyang Holdings Co., Ltd., Lifan Co., Ltd., and Lifan Co., Ltd. , the total share ratio of the three companies is 81, these three companies are also controlled by the Yin Mingshan family; in addition, the Yin Mingshan family is also the actual controller of the listed company Lifan Shares.
In the previous inquiry of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, it was clearly pointed out that Panda Automobile submitted a large compensation arbitration request to the company. Whether there was a situation that favored the interests of the controlling shareholder and actual controller. The controlling shareholder and actual controller Whether there is any situation in which the controlling position is used to infringe the interests of the listed company. In addition, the Shanghai Stock Exchange also requested clarification on the main considerations for Panda Auto's application for arbitration on compensation matters, and whether there are arrangements or plans to offset the company's related debts by the controlling shareholders and actual controllers through this arbitration.
Although Lifan Co., Ltd. has denied the above-mentioned doubts one by one, it is unclear about the relationship between the two.
After the establishment of Panda Auto, the related procurement with Lifan Passenger Cars also played a crucial role in the sales of Lifan new energy vehicles.
By sorting through the annual report, it can be clearly seen that Panda Auto's purchase of Lifan products directly affects the sales of Lifan's new energy vehicles.
According to statistics, from 2015 to 2018, Panda Auto and its subsidiaries purchased a total of 9,507 vehicles from Lifan Passenger Cars, Lifan Auto Sales and affiliated companies, with a purchase amount of 97569.68 million yuan; sold 400 Lifan brand new energy vehicles to Panda Automobile through Lifan dealers, with a sales amount of 24.5 million yuan. The total number of contracts signed above involves 15,191 vehicles of various types, and the actual execution of the contract totals 9,907 vehicles, with an execution amount of 1 billion yuan. But also after 2015, Panda Auto's related purchases of Lifan shares decreased year by year.
The twisting of a steel column eventually caused a domino effect and even became the last straw that broke the Twin Towers.
According to the first quarter report of Lifan Co., Ltd. in 2020, Lifan’s revenue in the first quarter was 564 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 74.88%, and the net profit loss attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 197 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 103%. The total liabilities of the parent company are 8.769 billion yuan, of which current liabilities are 7.664 billion yuan, and its ending balance of cash and cash equivalents is only 365,000 yuan.
To Yin Mingshan, who is already over eighty years old, he does not know what it feels like to be defeated like a mountain.
The frivolousness of youth, the wounds of old age
"My destiny is up to me and cannot be controlled by God."
Zhang Boduan of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote this in "Wu Zhen·Sixty-Four Quatrains", which is also very similar to Yin Mingshan's life.
In the summer of 1950, 12-year-old Yin Mingshan and his 50-year-old mother with small feet were "moved" to an abandoned thatched hut on a barren hill in the countryside of Fuling, Chongqing. Life was very difficult. . In the spring of 1958, when he was a senior in high school, he was kicked out of school after being exposed for making right-wing remarks. In 1961, he was promoted to counter-revolutionary and assigned to supervise labor in a plastics factory. In 1985, Yin Mingshan went into business and founded the Chongqing Vocational Education Book Club and edited the "Middle School Students' Dime Series" and made his first pot of gold in life.
After dropping out of school, going to jail, and working in the sea, he smelled new business opportunities. In 1992, Yin Mingshan entered the motorcycle industry with 200,000 yuan of capital and opened a new page in his life. It was also this year that Lifan Group, founded by Yin Mingshan, decided to focus on just this one thing.
As market competition intensified, Chongqing’s motorcycle industry was reshuffled. By 2001, Yin Mingshan’s Lifan Group was proud of producing and selling 1.84 million engines, achieving sales revenue of 3.8 billion yuan, and paying taxes of 100 million yuan. With outstanding performance, it surpassed the two established motorcycle giants, Jialing and Jianshe, and became the leader in Chongqing’s motorcycle industry.
In order to expand his business, Yin Mingshan decided to take motorcycles to the next level and start entering the automobile industry. Although Lifan’s car-making journey was not smooth, Yin Mingshan still led Lifan to successfully land in November 2010. A-share, becoming China's first listed private car company. After the listing, the market value of Lifan Group reached 10 billion, and the net worth of Yin Mingshan, who owned 80% of Lifan shares, soared to 8 billion.
But the frivolity of "youth" made him forget his obsession with doing only one thing in his life.
On June 18, 2020, Lifan Co., Ltd. issued an announcement disclosing supplementary announcements on the company’s cumulative litigation (arbitration) matters. The announcement shows that the company has been involved in 392 lawsuits (arbitrations), involving an amount of 2.906 billion yuan.
A few days later, nearly 30 Lifan dealers from all over the country went to Chongqing again and came to Lifan Industrial (Group) Co., Ltd. in Beipei District, Chongqing to complain about Chongqing Lifan Automobile Sales Co., Ltd.'s arrears. Re-negotiation of dealer-related payment issues, including dealer rebates, payment, security deposit, etc.
At this point, Yin Mingshan remembered his old obsession and decided to adjust the company's main business focus from this year and return to the motorcycle industry. It will launch 8 new motorcycle products every year, and in the automobile sector, it will Carry out joint ventures and cooperation when appropriate.
Interestingly, after 28 years of development, the most valuable asset of Lifan Group is still the motorcycle business it originally operated.
Financial data in 2019 shows that Lifan’s motorcycle business revenue reached 2.649 billion yuan, accounting for 35% of the total revenue, and motorcycle profits reached 198 million yuan, becoming Lifan’s most profitable segment and also profitable The focus is mainly on the import and export level. In 2019, the profit from the import and export business reached 165 million yuan. But even the company's main product, motorcycle engines, saw sales decline by more than 20%. At the same time, motorcycle sales were 620,000 units, down nearly 10%.
The members of the popular variety show "Sisters Riding the Wind and Waves" once again sang Yang Naiwen's song "Push the Door to the World", and the line "The frivolity of youth, the hurt of old age" has become the latest portrayal of Yin Mingshan .
In 2002, Yin Mingshan, then 64 years old, proudly ranked among the top 100 richest people in China by Forbes. In 2020, Ma Huateng, Xu Jiayin and Jack Ma firmly occupy the top three in China according to Forbes, while Yin Mingshan and his Lifan are missing.
"Poor white hair happens"
"When Lifan shares were listed seven years ago, I had a little white hair and was wearing this Chinese tunic suit. Now my hair is completely white, and it is still the same as before. Mao suit."
In 2017, in his speech when he resigned as chairman, every word Yin Mingshan said was full of endless helplessness and loneliness. Three years later, he found the person who shared all this for him. Not Yin Xidi, who loves luxury cars, nor Yin Suowei, who has held many important positions in Lifan.
He passed the stick of hope to his eldest granddaughter Yin Anni.
At the shareholders' meeting held on May 29, 2020, Yin Anni appeared as a non-employee supervisor of Lifan Co., Ltd. and participated in the review of various proposals. Yin Mingshan introduced at the meeting, "The company is now in a difficult situation, so she was asked to return to China to gain experience in the company and help the company bail out. This may mean that it took Yin Mingshan several years to finally find a successor to the "family business" that she recognized.
Information shows that Annie Yin is a post-95 generation, born in July 1995, and graduated from the University of California, Irvine, majoring in economics in 2017. The school is a world-renowned institution of higher learning and the world's top research university. , ranked among the "Public Ivy" and among the best 100 schools with less than 50 years of history, ranking first in the United States and fifth in the world.
Yin, however, has no market experience. Can Annie solve Lifan's urgent needs?
On June 30, Lifan Co., Ltd. announced that due to an overdue payment of 560,000 yuan, creditors applied for bankruptcy reorganization of the company. Affected by this news, Lifan Co., Ltd.'s stock price that day. As of the close, it fell 4.67.
In the "Announcement", Lifan stated that if the court formally accepts its reorganization application, the company will be at risk of being declared bankrupt due to failure of reorganization. If the company declares bankruptcy, the company will be subject to bankruptcy liquidation, and the company's shares will face the risk of being delisted. Even if the company implements and completes the reorganization, if the company's subsequent operations and financial indicators do not meet the requirements of the "Listing Rules" and other relevant regulatory regulations, the company will be delisted. There is still a risk that the stock will be issued a delisting risk warning or terminated from listing.
In other words, a listed company with a current market value of 5.9 billion yuan is facing bankruptcy and withdrawal because it cannot pay the payment of 590,000 yuan. Due to market risks, Lifan seems to be unable to fly anymore.
After rumors of huge debts and bankruptcy were exposed, there were rumors that Geely Holdings would acquire Lifan shares, but the news was subsequently denied by Geely Holdings. Lifan Co., Ltd. also issued a clarification announcement stating that the relevant media rumors were untrue and that it was currently not negotiating acquisitions or capital injections with third parties, nor had any intentions been reached.
Back in 2000, Lifan Group was reorganizing Chongqing Lifan Football. In the same year as the club, Lifan Club won the Chinese Football Association Cup. The scene of the cup toasting that year is still unforgettable to many people who witnessed it.
Three years later, in this year, the final critical relegation battle of the A-League. , Yin Mingshan gave the team an order to win three consecutive games in the last three games, but the plot never unfolded in advance. Watching his team being "slaughtered", Yin Mingshan did not express any attitude to the outside world, even though Yin Mingshan had a good attitude throughout the season. Finally won.
Many years later, Yin Mingshan still did not speak. He could no longer see clearly the importance of a team's victory and a group's "escape".
Pass through like the alternation of history and reality. When the Hongya Cave and the 720-meter-long Qiansimen Bridge connect across the Jialing River and Jiangbeizui, the grandeur shows a new side of Chongqing. Here, the river is rolling eastward, describing endless scenes of separation. Looking back becomes melancholy.
Text/Cao Minxi
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.