Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhuhai Yinlong) sued Wei Yincang, its former chairman, and Sun Guohua, its former president, in court, seeking to recover 780 million yuan of embezzled funds.On November 13, Zhuhai Yinlong issued a letter to the shareholders of Yinlong New Energy Co., Ltd. to disclose the above information.
Zhuhai Yinlong was established in 2009. Its main business revolves around batteries and new energy buses. Its headquarter is located in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province.The company has been familiar with the capital market since 2016. At that time, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric (000651.SZ), was optimistic about the development of Zhuhai Yinlong, and tried to acquire Zhuhai Yinlong through Gree Electric for 13 billion yuan, thereby cutting into the field of new energy vehicles.After the failure of the acquisition, Dong Mingzhu personally borrowed to buy shares at the end of 2016 and March 2017, with a shareholding ratio of 17.46%, becoming the second largest shareholder.
In November 2017, Wei Yincang, the former chairman of Zhuhai Yinlong, resigned due to illness, and the legal representative was changed to Sun Guohua, the former president.On March 25 this year, Lu Chunquan, the fifth largest shareholder representative of Zhuhai Yinlong, served as the new chairman, and Lai Xinhua, the former general manager of Gree Electric Zhengzhou Company, served as the company's president.After Dong Mingzhu became a shareholder, senior executives with Gree background successively entered Zhuhai Yinlong.
Zhuhai Yinlong said that during the performance of their duties, the new board of directors, board of supervisors and management found that there were frequent related transactions between the company and major shareholders, some of which were abnormal and suspicious.The major shareholder of Zhuhai Yinlong is Zhuhai Yinlong Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd., the legal representative is Sun Guohua, and the actual controller is Wei Yincang.Beginning at the end of July 2018, third-party agencies entered the market, and Jinlu Law Firm and PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted special due diligence and audits.Zhuhai Yinlong said that the special report showed that major shareholders embezzled the company's property through related transactions, and some of the behaviors were suspected of constituting criminal offences.
On October 18, 2018, Yinlong filed a civil lawsuit with the Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court regarding three major shareholders and related parties' violations of the company's interests, and the lawsuit has been officially accepted.The total value of the three cases exceeded 780 million yuan, of which the principal part was 680 million yuan.
Zhuhai Yinlong said that 270 million yuan in related party transactions was suspected of criminal offenses. The company has reported the case to the Economic Investigation Detachment of Zhuhai Public Security Bureau, and the Economic Investigation Detachment has accepted the report.
Caixin reporters asked Dong Mingzhu and Wei Yincang whether the prosecution would affect the business development of Zhuhai Yinlong, but no reply was received as of press time.
Prior to this, Zhuhai Yinlong had exposed capital risks.According to an announcement released by Gree Electric Appliances on April 26, 2018, Zhuhai Yinlong's operating income in 2017 was 8.752 billion yuan and its net profit was 270 million yuan.As of December 31, Zhuhai Yinlong's total liabilities reached 23.766 billion yuan.
Zhuhai Yinlong once had a bright future.Since 2017, Zhuhai Yinlong has successively announced the construction of a total of 11 production bases in Chengdu, Luoyang, Tianjin, Nanjing and other places, with a total investment of 80 billion yuan.However, after entering 2018, Zhuhai Yinlong's production bases in Chengdu, Shijiazhuang, Nanjing and other places have successively reported news of suspension of work and wage arrears.
Zhuhai Yinlong focuses on lithium titanate battery technology, which was obtained through strategic holding of Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. in 2010.This is not the mainstream lithium battery technology. The technical director of a well-known domestic bus company told Caixin reporter: The driving range of lithium titanate battery is too short, and the cost is more than 50% higher than that of lithium iron phosphate battery. At present, the main domestic new energy busUse lithium iron phosphate battery.
Zhuhai Yinlong failed to open the market as scheduled during the marketing process, which also affected the daily production and operation of Zhuhai Yinlong.
In addition, Zhuhai Yinlong entered the IPO counseling period in May 2017.On May 30, 2018, Zhuhai Yinlong terminated its listing counseling in January this year, according to the schedule of counseling for companies planning to list disclosed by the Guangdong Securities Regulatory Bureau.■
