Where will SOHO China, where CFO was investigated, go?

Recently, SOHO China executives were investigated, which brought them back to public view. The news that Ni Kuiyang, chief financial officer of SOHO China, was taken away by the police for investigation on suspicion of insider trading was finally confirmed by SOHO China.

Before Blackstone terminated the tender offer, SOHO China failed to sell herself, and now the CFO of the company is under investigation. What should SOHO China do in the future?

The news that "Chief Financial Officer Ni Kuiyang was taken away by the police for investigation on suspicion of insider trading" was finally confirmed by SOHO China. Diagram /IC diagram

Ni Kuiyang, the chief financial officer, is under investigation for alleged insider trading.

On July 6th, it was reported that Ni Kuiyang, the chief financial officer of SOHO China, was taken away by the police for investigation on suspicion of insider trading, and several senior executives of the company were also investigated, followed by media reports. In this regard, on July 7th, SOHO China issued the Clarification Announcement on Some Media Reports.

According to the announcement, the company has noticed recent media reports that Ni Kuiyang, the company's chief financial officer, is being investigated by the police for allegedly insider trading in the company's stock. The company knows that Ni Kuiyang is under investigation for alleged insider trading in the company's stock. The directors and other senior managers of the company were unaware of the alleged insider trading and were not investigated, but they fully cooperated with the data required by the relevant departments. Because of the above investigation, Ni Kuiyang was unable to perform the duties of the company's chief financial officer before the investigation ended, and the company temporarily handed over her duties to the company's chief financial officer; In the opinion of the directors, the investigation has no significant adverse effect on the business operation of the Group.

According to public information, Ni Kuiyang 1999 graduated from the Accounting Department of Youshi University in China and joined SOHO China 14 years. In July 2008, he joined SOHO China, where he served as chief financial officer from 201to 20 13 and vice president from 20 14. According to the survey, Ni Kuiyang only works in SOHO China and has no other affiliated companies. The Beijing News reporter noted that at present, Ni Kuiyang's profile has been removed from SOHO China official website's introduction to the board of directors and senior management.

As soon as the news spread, the share price of SOHO China fell. On July 7th, the share price of SOHO China fell by 2.78%. As of July 8th, the stock price of SOHO China was 1.4 1 HK$ per share, with a total market value of 733 1 HK$ 100 million.

In this regard, Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of China Enterprise Capital Alliance, analyzed that CFO belongs to the core personnel of the company's decision-making and operation, so he knows the inside information of many companies' operations and decisions. This time, Ni Kuiyang was investigated for alleged insider trading. It should be that the regulatory authorities may have some evidence, which will cause him to temporarily fail to perform his duties. However, as far as a large listed company like SOHO China is concerned, it generally has a relatively perfect internal governance structure, and the change or inability of individual personnel to perform their duties will not have much impact on the company's operation.

After more than ten years of listing, SOHO China has gone through five CFO positions.

It is worth mentioning that since SOHO China was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 8, 2007, * * * has served as five CFOs for more than ten years, namely Wang Shaojian, Tang Zhengmao, Lin Zhan, Yan Yan and Ni Kuiyang.

The Beijing News reporter read the announcement and learned that on June 25th, 2008, SOHO China announced the appointment of Wang Shaojian as the company's executive director and chief financial officer. At that time, Wang Shaojian signed a written service contract with SOHO China for three years from June 2, 2008. However, on May 3, 20654381day, SOHO China announced that Wang Shaojian, who had been employed for less than two years, had resigned from the above position to look for other business opportunities.

20 10 10 On February 24th, Tang Zhengmao officially became the new CFO of SOHO China. At that time, Tang Zhengmao had worked in SOHO China for more than 8 years. Prior to his promotion, he served as Director of Finance and Investor Relations and Chief Financial Officer of SOHO China. Tang Zhengmao stayed in the position of CFO for more than three years, until May 1965 14 and April 1965, when she resigned as the executive director and chief financial officer of the company, but she was still a senior consultant of SOHO China.

It is worth mentioning that during 20 14, Lin Zhan joined SOHO China. However, it was not until August 20th, 20 15 that SOHO China officially announced Lin Zhan as the company's executive director and chief financial officer. Dramatically, less than a month later, in September of the same year 1 1, SOHO China announced Lin Zhanqiu. This means that Lin Zhan became the first CFO in SOHO China to resign only one year later.

On may 8, 20 16, SOHO China announced in the announcement that Tang zhengmao had rejoined and was appointed as the executive director and chief financial officer of the company. Tang Zhengmao's return did not last long. Two years later, on August 18, SOHO China announced Tang Zhengmao's resignation. As a result, Tang Zhengmao bid farewell to SOHO China completely.

It can be said that Yan Yan is the most important CFO of SOHO China over the years. According to the data, Yan Yan joined SOHO China at the end of 1996 and has served as managing director, financial president, executive director and president. It is worth mentioning that whenever the CFO position is suspended, Yan Yan will be at the top of the first time. For example, in 20 14, Tang Zhengmao left, and Yan Yan, executive director and president of SOHO China, became the chief financial officer; Then, during the period from Lin Zhan's departure on 20 16 to Tang Zhengmao's return, Yan Yan also served as CFO.

On March 8, 20 18, SOHO China announced that Yan Yan left SOHO China for personal development reasons and went to Blackstone Group, which is known as the "king of PE", to be the managing director of Asian real estate department. Then, SOHO China had a subsequent transaction dispute with Blackstone.

"Blackstone tender offer" caused the company's share price to fluctuate greatly.

Now, SOHO China didn't specify Ni Kuiyang's alleged insider trading in the announcement, but it was reported that the reason why Ni Kuiyang was investigated was related to the acquisition of Blackstone.

"Hong Kong has strict requirements for internal transactions, and it needs real evidence to convict. Speculation may be related to some behaviors during Blackstone's acquisition of SOHO China, because the stock price of SOHO China fluctuated little in the past, but it fluctuated greatly during Blackstone's acquisition of SOHO China. " Dennis Huang, president of Huisheng International Capital, said.

In the past two years, the privatization of SOHO China and the cooperation with Blackstone have aroused widespread concern in the market, but both ended in failure. The Beijing News reporter noted that as early as March 2020, it was reported that Blackstone Group was negotiating with SOHO China on the privatization of the latter, with a transaction amount of US$ 4 billion. On the evening of June 1 1, SOHO China announced that the company was negotiating with overseas financial investors to explore the possibility of strategic cooperation, which might lead to a comprehensive tender offer for all the issued shares of the company.

It was not until June 16, 20265438 that SOHO China officially announced that Two city Master Holdings II Limited, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group, made a cash offer to acquire all the issued shares of SOHO China at a purchase price of HK$ 5 per share, with a maximum cash consideration of HK$ 23.658 billion, in order to gain a controlling stake in SOHO China. Upon completion of this offer, the existing controlling shareholder of SOHO China will retain 9% of the shares, and the company will continue to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Affected by this news, SOHO China resumed trading on June 17, opening 25.26% higher at HK$ 4.76, with a pre-market turnover of HK$ 28 1 billion and a total market value of HK$ 237 1 billion. On the previous trading day, the closing price of SOHO China was HK$ 3.8, with a total market value of about HK$ 654.38+09.76 billion.

However, on August 6th, 20021year, SOHO China announced that the purchaser had received a notice from the State Administration of Market Supervision, and formally filed a case for review according to the Anti-monopoly Law of China. One month later, on September 10, SOHO China announced that Blackstone had terminated its acquisition of SOHO China, less than three months after SOHO China announced on June 16 that "Blackstone Group intends to acquire all the shares of the company by cash offer". It is worth mentioning that on September 10, the stock price of SOHO China changed, and rose by nearly 16% after the opening. At the close, the share price was reported at HK$ 3.50, an increase of 9.38%.

Restart the "selling" mode, and the development momentum still needs to be improved.

At the corporate management level, the financial report shows that in 20021year, SOHO China achieved operating income of1742 million yuan, down 20.53% year-on-year; In the same period, the net loss attributable to equity shareholders of SOHO China was about RMB 65,438+0.365,438+0 billion. SOHO China said that the loss was mainly due to the one-time tax expenses of the subsidiaries of the Group confirmed in 20021of about 439 million yuan.

In 2022, SOHO China reopened the "selling" mode after the failure of "selling itself". On March 10 this year, at the first rental commendation meeting and high-quality housing promotion meeting held in SOHO China in 2022, Pan Shiyi announced that he would sell 32,000 square meters of real estate in Beijing and Shanghai at a 30% discount, covering 9 projects including Yinhe SOHO, Sanlitun SOHO, SOHO Donghai Plaza and SOHO Zhongshan Plaza. It is worth noting that Pan Shiyi clearly responded to the speculation about the flow of funds. He said that all the proceeds from the sale of houses will be used for debt reduction and will not be used for stock dividends.

On March 10, Pan Shiyi announced that he would sell 32,000 square meters of real estate in Beijing and Shanghai at a 30% discount. The picture shows Galaxy SOHO. Figure/Enterprise official website

So, what will be the future of SOHO China? In this regard, Yan Yuejin, research director of think tank center of Yiju Research Institute, pointed out that SOHO China has encountered some difficulties and pressures at present, but because the overall business or product portfolio has its own characteristics compared with other enterprises, it is still worth looking forward to in the future development.

However, in Bai Wenxi's view, SOHO China's operating income will exceed its income sooner or later, because it is more self-sustaining commercial property and needs huge cash flow to support it, while SOHO China lacks long-term and low-interest sources of funds, so selling and transferring is its ultimate way out. In addition, Dennis Huang pointed out that the real estate assets of SOHO China are mainly office buildings in Beijing and Shanghai, and there is little chance for these assets to increase in value in the future. It is difficult to find a strong receiver and it is unlikely to be highly valued. In addition, the development momentum of SOHO China is already very weak, and it will be a low-key company with average performance in the future.

It is worth mentioning that the official WeChat account of SOHO China has not been updated for a long time, and it still stays at June 1.

Beijing News reporter Zhang Xiaolan

Editor Yang proofreads Fu.