Source: Science and Technology Innovation board Daily.
Meituan announced that Shen Nanpeng has resigned from the position of non-executive director. At the same time, Shen Nanpeng has confirmed that he has no disagreements with the board of directors. As an important investor in Meituan and Dianping, Sequoia China played an active role in the process of their merger.
On the evening of June 14,$MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$in a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Shen Nanpeng resigned from his position as non-executive director due to other work arrangements after the shareholder's annual meeting. At the same time, Shen Nanpeng confirmed that there was no difference of opinion or other matters related to his resignation between him and the board of directors, nor should any matter related to his resignation be brought to the attention of the shareholders.
It is worth mentioning that a month and a half ago, Shen Nanpeng also resigned as a director of BTG Hotels. According to the announcement at the time, Shen Nanpeng applied to resign as a director of the company's board of directors and was no longer a member of the board's strategic committee and compensation and evaluation committee.
Regarding Shen Nanpeng's resignation as non-executive director of Meituan, some investors commented that during his tenure as non-executive director, Shen Nanpeng, who has rich investment experience, provided advice on investment and business strategy, financial discipline and other aspects, making Meituan one of the highest market cap HK new economy stocks after listing.
"In addition, as an important investor in Meituan and Dianping, Sequoia China has also played an active role in promoting the merger of the two companies." the investor said.
Public information shows that Sequoia China invested in Dianping at its establishment. In 2006, Sequoia China became an A-round investor in Dianping and the only investor in this round.
In 2010, Sequoia China became an A-round investor in Meituan. At that time, Shen Nanpeng sent 12 million US dollars to Wang Xing, becoming the only investor in Meituan's A-round and holding 22.5% of Meituan's shares. In subsequent rounds of financing, Sequoia China chose to follow suit. The above-mentioned investor believes that this is Sequoia China's confidence in Meituan's business model and continued development.
According to the prospectus, as of the IPO, Shen Nanpeng held 573 million Class B shares of Meituan through Sequoia Capital China Funds and Sequoia Capital Global Growth Funds, and has been a non-executive director of Meituan since October 2015. In terms of time, Shen Nanpeng has been a non-executive director of Meituan for 9 years.
After Meituan went public, it also brought rich investment returns to Shen Nanpeng and Sequoia China. Data shows that Meituan's market cap once reached as high as 51 billion US dollars, about 350 billion RMB.
However, the Science and Technology Innovation board Daily noticed that Shen Nanpeng began to withdraw from Meituan from the fourth quarter of 2019. The number of shares held has decreased from the initial 573 million shares to 104.7 million shares at the end of 2023, a decrease of 81%.
According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, since Meituan went public in 2018, Shen Nanpeng has reduced his holdings in Meituan by at least HKD 60 billion. However, some insiders said that this was Sequoia China's reduction rather than Shen Nanpeng's personal reduction. Sequoia China has invested in Meituan many times since 2010 and it is a normal withdrawal of its fund.
It is worth mentioning that after Shen Nanpeng's Sequoia China reduced Meituan's holdings many times, there was a small increase in the middle of 2023, with an increase of 9.476 million shares, but by the end of 2023, Sequoia China's shareholding changes had reached -29.47%.
With Shen Nanpeng's resignation as non-executive director, Sequoia China and Shen Nanpeng, who have been accompanying Meituan for 14 years, will also formally end their direct connection with Meituan.
Editor/tolk