Author: Zhou Yuanzheng
Source: contour lines
In 1993, several medium-sized things happened in Hong Kong.
One day, a director was so lonely that he watched a replay of the old film on TV late at night and found the following strange pictures in the advertisements of the Kowloon-Canton Railway: several children were playing train games shoulder to shoulder, and there was one more person in the team. In that year, the late-night Hong Kong subway seemed to be full of strange atmosphere. In June, Huang Jiaju, the lead singer of Beyond, also died of illness. Sadness flowed in the hearts of that generation of young people in Hong Kong.
There are both death and life. this year, a number of companies at the beginning of Lexing appeared in the company registration in Hong Kong. The "isobaric Line" reporter checked nearly 100 companies associated with Lexing and found that 1992 was also conducive to the establishment of companies at the beginning of Xingxing, but a large number of Lexing companies were established in 1993. Moreover, Lexing set up its first company in the mainland this year.
This time, the protagonist behind the Xi'an Leixing incident is Li Xingxing. Xi'an Star Automobile Co., Ltd. was established on May 22, 2012. China Star Group Co., Ltd., the largest shareholder with a 75% stake, is an enterprise of Li Xing Group. Lexing also owns a 25 per cent stake in Mercedes-Benz China car sales company through INSIGHTLEGENDLIMITED. In the Lexing series, the early English name of the company was Cantonese pronunciation "LEISHINGHONG". A survey by a reporter from the isobaric line found that Li Xing Xing actually had two founders, both of whom were wealthy businessmen from Malaysia. The two founders may not have imagined that 26 years later, Li Xing Xing and Mercedes-Benz became the focus of world attention because a beautiful Xi'an woman was sitting on the hood of Mercedes-Benz CLS and crying.
How on earth did the Lixing system achieve its rise? apart from the well-known Liu family, what mysterious forces are there to promote it?
The two "godfathers" get together
"the average Chinese are afraid of appearing in public for various reasons. They don't like to wash things in public, so they don't like to deal with the media." This is a letter from Kuok Hock Nien, Malaysia's richest man, who refused to be interviewed by the far East Economic Review. The wealthy people in Southeast Asia who are secretly intertwined with dignitaries are also called "godfathers".
The birth of Lixing is related to the two low-key "godfathers" of Malaysia. Years ago, the struggle between Mercedes-Benz and Lexing brought one of the "godfathers" to the foreground. A senior official of a car dealership group in Chongqing told the Isodeep Line that Mercedes-Benz and Li Xingxing had been fighting in previous years, and then Beijing Mercedes-Benz was also involved in the exhibition group, and it was only slightly calmer in recent years. When the struggle was fierce, once high-spirited Beijing Mercedes-Benz also left sadly.
Liu Yuze, who is originally from Chaoshan, is the "godfather" after these card games. Liu Yuze, also known as Liu Chuqun (English name: LAUYuChak), is the nephew of the late Malaysian businessman Liu Yubo. Liu Yubo, a native of Chaoshan, went to Malaysia in 1936 and became the lumber king of Malaysia all the way. Due to the needs of the timber industry and plantations, Liu Yubo's enterprises have become important customers of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles. Liu Yubo is said to have ordered hundreds of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles at a time when he expanded his timber and plantations in the 1960s. Since then, Mercedes-Benz executives have formed a good relationship with the Liu Yubo family. In the 1970s, Liu Yubo won the agency of Mercedes-Benz in Taiwan and expanded in other regions and countries. In the 1980s, the Liu Yubo family won the exclusive agency for Chinese mainland.
The "Isodeep Line" reporter learned from a person in Malaysia that Liu Yubo had no son but only a daughter named VivianLiewSoongCheng, so the family business was not passed on to the daughter, but let his nephew Liu Yuze, who had been involved in family affairs for a long time, inherited the family business. The person revealed that the Liu family is not like the high-profile Mr. low-profile in recent years, but very low-key. However, no matter how low-key it is, it often comes to the foreground because of the struggle of various interests. Liu Yuze in the struggle with Mercedes-Benz, his information was also intentionally or unintentionally disclosed.
Another Malaysian lumber king, comparable to the Liu family, is hiding behind him. According to the documents consulted by the "isobaric" reporter, Malaysian tycoon Qiu Dexing and Liu Yuze jointly established China Star Group Co., Ltd. (the company was called North Star Motor Co., Ltd.) on August 12, 1993.
China Star Group Co., Ltd. is the controlling shareholder of Xi'an Star Automobile Co., Ltd., which is involved in the Xi'an Mercedes-Benz incident, accounts for 75% of Xi'an Star, and is also a company under the Lexing system. At the beginning of its establishment, there were only two shareholders, namely, Liu Yuze and Qiu Dexing natural person shareholders. At that time, the issued shares were HK $1000, with Qiu Dexing holding HK $690 and Liu Yuze HK $310.
According to the annual return as of September 12, 2018, China Star Group Limited has issued a total of HK $20 million of shares and its shareholders are Lexing Motor (Hong Kong) Limited. The directors include Yan Jiansheng (General Manager of Lexing Group) and Liu Guoting (former director of Lexing Baohui Insurance Agency).
After screening the annual returns and previous changes of directors of China Star Group Co., Ltd., Qiu Dexing did not disappear from the list of shareholders and directors of China Star Group Co., Ltd until 1998. After 1998, he did not completely disappear from the Lexing line, and he and the Liu family also appeared in the Hong Kong-listed Lexing Co., Ltd. (stock symbol 000238.HK before delisting in March 2008).
According to an announcement issued by Lixing Co., Ltd. on November 29, 2007, Qiu Dexing holds 25.86% of Li Xingxing Co., Ltd. through its three companies, while Liu Yubo's family holds a total of 62.53%. Li Xing Hong Co., Ltd. was founded in 1972, the former Mingliwen Investment Co., Ltd. In the early days, Liu Yubo and Qiu Dexing did not intervene, but two early wealthy businessmen in Hong Kong-Liu Zhiwen and Ye Wenshan. When the late Hong Kong wealthy businessman Fok Ying Tung was preparing for the establishment of the Hong Kong Real Estate Association, he gathered 69 Hong Kong real estate activists, including Liu Zhiwen and Ye Wenshan.
YAWTECKSENG and his son YAWCHEEMING are among the 22 richest people in Malaysia, with assets of US $850 million, according to a reporter from the isobaric line. Qiu Dexing started his career in Sarawak, Malaysia (now Sarawak), adjacent to Sabah, where Liu Yuze's uncle, Liu Yubo, started his family. Qiu Dexing's industries include forestry, palm oil and real estate. Among them, forestry is Qiu Dexing's magic weapon, and its Miki Group has 60 million mu of woodland around the world. Qiu Dexing's Sanlin Global (03938.HK) was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and then delisted.
In recent years, the Qiu Dexing family has developed smoothly all over the world. OttoMarine, owned by YAWCHEESIEW, the son of Qiu Dexing, is listed in Singapore. In 2018, Qiu Zhixiao ranked 22 on the Singapore Rich list with a fortune of US $385 million. During the Spring Festival this year, the head of state of NegeriSarawak also led senior government officials to pay New year's greetings to Qiu's home and visit its large courtyard.
The reason why the two low-key Malaysian "godfathers" came together is still unknown. In addition to being forestry tycoons, the common circle of Malaysian Chinese tycoons is also an important reason for being able to hold together. In addition, the two "godfathers" have made a lot of money from the huge profits of Mercedes-Benz car sales. According to the information released in the 2007 semi-annual report of Li Xing Co., Ltd., the gross profit in the first half of 2007 was as high as HK $1.158 billion.
There is a feud between Mercedes-Benz and Lixing.
With the Xi'an incident, the relationship between Leixing and Mercedes-Benz will experience another challenge.
In the old days, no matter how fierce the fight was, we finally got into a fight under the bed and fell in love with each other. There are many versions of the story of the relationship between Mercedes-Benz and Lexing. However, over the past few decades, a "you have me, I have you" relationship has been formed.
In the sixties and seventies of the last century, the Liu family formed a cooperative relationship with Mercedes-Benz, which seized the development opportunity in Asia and achieved rapid breakthroughs in these regions. In the 1980s, China's reform and opening up stimulated Mercedes-Benz to expand rapidly with the help of the Liu family.
Compared with Japanese car companies, German car companies seem rigid for market expansion, but they are not lack of flexibility. In the eighties and nineties of the last century, many multinational enterprises entered mainland China and chose Hong Kong as the springboard, including Sweden's famous bearing company SKF also set up sales companies in Hong Kong before mapping the mainland market. In addition to its unique geographical and port logistics advantages, Hong Kong, China also has a large number of tycoons who have maintained close ties with the western world and mainland China. Such tycoons, as well as those in Southeast Asia, are called "godfathers" by JoeStudwell, the author of the Asian Godfather. They have a shrewd mind, skillful business skills and the flexibility to move between the government and the rich and powerful.
After winning the trust and support of Mercedes-Benz, the Liu family won the exclusive agency of Mercedes-Benz in mainland China in the 1980s. Its structure has also been gradually adjusted to build a huge Lexing system in Hong Kong. The "Equal Deep Line" reporter conducted a screening by Liu Yuze, the actual controller of the Xingxing Group, and Yan Jiansheng, general manager of the Li Xingxing Group, who served as shareholders or directors in nearly 100 Hong Kong companies, respectively. The two served as directors or shareholders in 18 companies that began with "Li Xing Hong" (some of which have been cancelled). In addition to Li Xingxing, both Liu Yuze and Yan Jiansheng have served as directors of China Star Group Co., Ltd.
In the mainland industrial and commercial archives, the shareholders of Mercedes-Benz (China) Automobile sales Co., Ltd., established on September 23, 2005, are composed of Daimler Greater China Investment Co., Ltd., Daimler AG (Daimler and Mercedes-Benz merged in the early 20th century, its main brand is Mercedes-Benz) and INSIGHTLEGENDLIMITED. In recent media reports, INSIGHTLEGENDLIMITED (Chinese name: Mingchi Co., Ltd.) is regarded as a Lexing company.
The "Equal depth Line" reporter looked up the relevant company information of the Hong Kong companies Registry and found that the registration time of INSIGHTLEGENDLIMITED was March 4, 2005. it was established by HarefieldLimited, which was established in Samoa, with an actual investment of HK $1. On May 10, 2005, HarefieldLimited transferred all its shares to Lixing Motor Co., Ltd. According to the 2018 Annual report, Lixing Motor Co., Ltd. currently has a registered capital of HK $220 million and its shareholder is Lixing Co., Ltd.
Li Xing Hong Limited, which was privatized and delisted in 2008, has a complex shareholder structure, with 12 corporate shareholders with a registered capital of more than HK $5 billion. Compared with the relevant companies, it was found that the two companies that Qiu Dexing once controlled were among them. Are there any shares in Daimler AG among the related companies? After screening the relevant information, the reporter of the "Equal depth Line" found that most of the 12 companies were suspected to be offshore registered companies and could not penetrate the equity for the time being.
In 2017, Daimler AG (DaimlerAG) bought a 15 per cent stake in Lexing Motor International Co., Ltd. Daimler AG completed the share offer on May 22, 2017 and received an allotment of 11.25 million shares at a price of HK $227.44 each, according to the share change statement of Lexing Automobile International Co., Ltd. By simple calculation, Daimler AG paid a total of HK $2.5587 billion at that time. At present, among the shares of Lexing Automobile International Co., Ltd., Lexing Motor Co., Ltd. holds 63.75 million shares and Daimler shares hold 11.25 million shares.
In addition to the company led by Lexing, the partnership between Lexing and Daimler-Benz is deeply hidden. The "isobaric" reporter found that the shareholders of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Hong Kong Limited registered in Hong Kong are Daimler AG, ApacInvestmentLimited and Mercedes-BenzasiaGmbH, each holding 98100000 shares, 32700000 shares and 32700000 shares, with a share ratio of 60% ∶ 20% ∶ 20%. In the list of directors, in addition to the executives of Daimler AG, Liu Yuze and Yan Jiansheng, the core figures of Lixing's department, are among them. ApacInvestmentLimited was founded in March 1995 and used to be named Fuchi Automobile Co., Ltd in Chinese. Among the Lixing line companies, "Chi" appeared in the Chinese names of some early companies, including not only "Mingchi", but also "Fuchi" and so on. The shareholder of ApacInvestmentLimited is Li Xingxing financing Co., Ltd., and Yan Jiansheng also appears as a director.
It is not difficult to find that Mercedes-Benz and Lexing have been deeply integrated with these companies in Hong Kong.
Lexing may be blocked from listing
Late on the night of April 16 this year, Xi'an woman and Mercedes-Benz reached a settlement, Mercedes-Benz will hold a lunar birthday party for the woman.
Mr. Liu, who has worked in the world's top 500 companies for a long time and has also worked in multinational car companies, is quite concerned about the Mercedes-Benz Xi'an incident. Suxi, who studies Qimen Yuejia, believes that the snake who was born in 1989, his birthday and the branch of the year and month are all powerful characters, but they are all powerful characters, but they are too old, their emotions are easy to fluctuate, and Jupiter's phase magnetic field is the strongest, which coincides with her 30-year-old Dragon Moon birthday and the zodiac.
There is no doubt that the lunar birthday party operated by Mercedes-Benz in the future will attract the attention of many "onlookers". However, this is a major crisis for Mercedes-Benz and Lexing, and more variables are still under way.
In March 2008, Lixing, then with a market capitalization of US $1.4 billion, was delisted at a repurchase price of HK $10 per share, much higher than the repurchase price it announced when it intended to buy back shares in 2007. After delisting, Lixing did not re-enter the capital market. In 2017, Daimler AG bought a stake in Lexing Motor International Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Lexing, which triggered a variety of associations.
At the beginning of 2018, news of Lixing's expectation of a secondary listing went viral in Hong Kong's capital circle. Sources revealed that Li Xing intended to list in Hong Kong for a second time and planned to raise US $800m (about HK $6.26 billion at that time). The relevant media also said aggressively that Lexing has approached the investment bank and will go public in the second half of 2018 at the earliest. Of course, this news has not been confirmed by Lexing. The "contour line" reporter contacted a number of companies in the department of Lixing, but could not get any further reply. Under today's wind and rain, the road for Lexing to go public is bound to become more difficult.
In addition to listing or being blocked, the future of Lixing is also full of uncertainty. On April 16, Beijing Mercedes-Benz sales and Service Co., Ltd. issued a second statement: it will investigate the operational compliance of the relevant dealers. Before the result is clear, the sales operation of the authorized store will be suspended and carried out immediately; if the investigation results show that the sales behavior of the relevant distributor is illegal and illegal, the authorization of its sales operation will be terminated.
Ni Kai (NicholasSpeeks), president and CEO of Beijing Mercedes-Benz sales and Service Co., Ltd., also made a public apology on the same day, saying: "if I encounter such a problem, it is not just about replacing the engine."
Although the relationship between Mercedes-Benz and Li Xingxing is not that between Liu Qiangdong and his brothers, it seems to be the rhythm of wielding a knife and breaking his arm. These days are the final season of Game of Thrones, the ultimate battle of Winterfell, and no one comes without stepping on the ashes.
As of the press release, the senior management of Lexing's headquarters did not directly respond to this incident, which may change the fate of Lexing. According to the public information of Lexing, Lixing, as a Mercedes-Benz dealer and other businesses, continues to grow and develop.
Currently, Lexing employs more than 26000 people worldwide and operates in more than 130 cities in 11 markets, including Hong Kong, China, Chinese mainland, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany. Lexing is also the world's largest dealer of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and Caterpillar Inc hydraulic excavators. In addition, Lexing also invests and develops high-end commercial retail properties, trades in various commodities, and provides customers with customized exclusive financial services. The automotive division of Lexing Automotive International Co., Ltd., which is directly owned by Daimler, was established in 1993, which is mainly engaged in the wholesale and retail of high-end cars (especially retail). The auto business has been distributed in seven markets: Chinese mainland, Germany, Cambodia, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Australia. It is reported that Lixing Automobile International Co., Ltd. in 2017 operating income of 126 billion Hong Kong dollars, annual sales of 250000 new cars, more than 22000 employees. In the Chinese mainland market in 2017, Lexing sold 182000 new cars, more than 146sales outlets and more than 16000 employees.
The depth of the ferment of this incident will undoubtedly have a great impact on the development of Lexing in Chinese mainland. Senior auto personage Duan Xu told the "Isodeep Line" reporter that Mercedes-Benz has been a big year of products in recent years, and the speed and power of new products have quickly surpassed BMW and Audi, so the market performance has risen all the way, and dealers have taken advantage of the opportunity to make money. Dealers have gradually lost their innovation and market development and service ability on the hotbed of huge profits, and the Xi'an incident is only the tip of the iceberg.
Can Mercedes-Benz, which once huddled closely together, be alone again? For Mercedes-Benz, which leads the luxury car market, it has not only become the biggest concern during the Shanghai auto show, but also brought uncertainty for its future development in the luxury car market. During the three years from 2016 to 2018, Mercedes-Benz developed rapidly and maintained double-digit growth. There is no denying that the rapid growth of Mercedes-Benz is inseparable from the help of Lixing. However, the problems left by the rapid development of the market have beset Mercedes-Benz's development in China. Duan Xu believes that Mercedes-Benz in China's layout of the marketing system, complex interests, divided but not in harmony, after the formation of the oligarch dealer system, the management confusion has not been fundamentally resolved. Jia Xinguang, a well-known auto analyst and former chief analyst of China Automotive Industry Consulting and Development Corporation, also believes that Mercedes-Benz's sales system in China has not been smooth like others, and there will be a huge game of interests after this incident.
In addition, when Mercedes-Benz criticized the sales system, many people questioned that Mercedes-Benz was "throwing the pot". In fact, the operation of multinational companies in China is not as standard as many people think. Daimler AG was involved in an influential bribery case. In 2010, documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed that Daimler's bribes included at least 3 million euros ($4 million) in bribes to Russian officials to secure 64.6 million euros worth of sales contracts; about 4.1739 million euros bribed Chinese government officials, including commissions, gifts and travel holidays. It is reported that these bribes are paid by transferring money to "third-party accounts" under the control of senior Daimler sales departments, or by misstating prices and offering bribes in the name of third-party intermediaries. At the same time, the names such as "special discount", "commission" and "necessary expenditure" are used to cover people's eyes. The countries involved include Egypt, China, Russia and other 22 countries. The Chinese enterprises involved include China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Petrochina Company Limited and other central enterprises.
In recent years, the irregularity of multinationals in China is not alone. In investigating a series of corruption cases, the "Equal Deep Line" reporter also learned that in order to expand the Chinese market, on the one hand, multinational enterprises rely on resources such as Chinese "godfathers" and special energy personnel. some enterprises often offer overseas designated scholarships for the children of some ministry officials to pay bribes in disguise. As the Chinese market continues to grow, various ways of paying bribes are also escalating and changing. According to public information, including Walmart Inc, Lucent, PepsiCo Inc, Siemens, Depp and other well-known multinational companies are involved in commercial bribery in China.
The Xi'an incident will come to an end with reconciliation, and the "seven-day effect" seems to show magic again. However, the impact of this incident on the auto industry may be revealed in the future. Lawyer Xu Hao, a partner of Beijing Law firm, believes that from the legal level, the cost of safeguarding consumers' rights is too high, and the illegal cost of automobile enterprises and sellers is too low; from the economic level, car sales have dropped sharply. If you remove the financial service fees, insurance and other profit points that have been questioned, and do not find new profit points, problems similar to the Xi'an incident are difficult to solve fundamentally.
"this thing may be an inflection point, if these are cancelled, how can dealers survive, how manufacturers survive, is a problem, the profit model of the entire industry needs to change." A senior executive of a car dealer group in Chongqing said, "however, customers' choices should be more respected in the future."
Jia Xinguang said: "China should learn from the United States in dealing with defective cars, and faulty new cars should be returned to manufacturers. This kind of car is called 'lemon car' in the United States. It accounts for about 3% of new car sales every year. Lemon cars can only enter the used car market. At the same time, consumers should be dealt with more quickly when they encounter problems, rather than letting consumers swallow this sour 'lemon'."