Third-party payment institution Zhejiang Xinhang Payment Co., Ltd. has listed 49% equity in the Guangdong United Equity Exchange Center. It is reported that the 49% equity to be transferred by Zhejiang Xinhang Payment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Xinhang Payment") comes from China Aerospace Communications Holding Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Aerospace Communications"), which also holds all the equity of Xinhang Payment. The minimum price for this equity transfer is 51.11 million yuan, based on which, the current valuation of Xinhang Payment is approximately 0.104 billion yuan.

Xinhang Payment is the domestic licensed entity of cross-border payment company Hangzhou PingPong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (PingPong). Tianyancha shows that in July 2016, the shareholder list of Xinhang Payment was changed from Aerospace Communications to Shanghai Yiqian and Aerospace Communications. Subsequently, the company's shareholding ratio has remained unchanged, with Aerospace Communications holding 49% and Shanghai Yiqian Network Information Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Shanghai Yiqian") holding 51%. Shanghai Yiqian is actually a wholly-owned subsidiary of PingPong.

Aerospace Communications announced on November 22 that it plans to publicly list and transfer all of its 49% equity in Xinhang Payment. The company's equity listing transfer this time aims to implement the special "Two Non" cleanup work deployment, gradually withdraw from non-core business, focus on the development of the communication core business, promote lean operation of the company, revitalize the company's assets, and alleviate the current financial pressure of the company.

Xinhang Payment, originally named Zhejiang Aerospace Electronic Information Industry Co., Ltd., was established in 2002. In June 2012, the company obtained the third-party payment license issued by the People's Bank of China, and completed the license renewal in June 2022. In accordance with the requirements of the "Regulations on the Supervision and Management of Non-bank Payment Institutions", the People's Bank's website shows that the company obtained a new payment license in September 2024 and was renamed Zhejiang Xinhang Payment Co., Ltd. The company's business types are Type I and Type II of stored value account operations in Zhejiang province. The validity of this license extends to June 26, 2027.

According to Aerospace Communications disclosure, as of the end of June 2024, Xinhang Payment's total assets were 484.3007 million yuan; in the first half of 2024, the company achieved revenue of 5.6955 million yuan and a net loss of -55.7345 million yuan.

Who will take over the 49% equity this time after multiple unsuccessful transfers in the past?

This is not the first time Aerospace Communications has attempted to clear its entire equity in Xinhang Payment. As early as October 2016, Aerospace Communications listed the 49% equity of Xinhang Payment for sale multiple times at a price of 0.203 billion yuan, but no one took over. Aerospace Communications received inquiries from the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2017 due to reasons such as transferring Aerospace Electronics equity in batches and listing in different years.

In October 2016, the Shanghai Stock Exchange pointed out that the China Aerospace Communications Board of Directors decided to transfer the remaining 49% equity through public listing, with an evaluated value of 0.148 billion yuan and a listing floor price of 0.203 billion yuan. However, in the second half of 2017, the evaluated value of the listed target company dropped to 0.117 billion yuan, while the listing floor price increased by 0.03 billion yuan to 0.233 billion yuan. The Shanghai Stock Exchange, in a letter of inquiry, asked China Aerospace Communications to explain the reasons for the price difference in the two listings.

In January 2018, China Aerospace Communications signed a property transaction contract with Beijing Eastern Wisdom Flag E-Commerce Co., Ltd. (referred to as 'Eastern Wisdom Flag'), intending to transfer 49% of the equity of Xinhang at a price of 0.233 billion yuan to Eastern Wisdom Flag. However, after several extensions, the transfer of this equity ultimately ended in failure.

Some market views believe that PingPong and related companies may be involved in taking over this equity in the transaction, but PingPong has not made any statements yet. Caifinance reporters noted on the project page that the original shareholders of the target company (Shanghai Yiqian) have not clearly indicated the waiver of the right of first refusal, and the company's management does not participate in the acquisition of the equity. However, a person from a payment company in East China also told Caifinance reporters that PingPong's business is all cross-border, and completely obtaining domestic licenses may not have as much value for PingPong as imagined.