易生活控股於今日(12日)停牌，並將繼續暫停買賣直至另行通知。ELIFE HLDGS (00223.HK) announced that it has received a letter from the major Shareholder CH INNOVATION (01217.HK) requesting an investigation into the legality of buying shares of six company Shareholders, namely Liu Qiuhua, Zeng Xu, Mao Zuokui, Wu Guangchao, Zhu Zhengang, and Han Wenli (collectively referred to as minority Shareholders), and requesting their removal. They are likely all residents of mainland China, and both their life and work are in mainland China. If they wish to subscribe or Trade shares of Hong Kong-listed companies that are not under the Shanghai-Hong Kong or Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect schemes, they need to transfer funds from mainland China to Hong Kong. However, the act of transferring funds by minority Shareholders to purchase Hong Kong stocks may violate mainland laws, leading to doubts about their Shareholder status and resulting in a lack of legal basis for exercising Shareholder rights.
The letter states that according to relevant regulations of mainland Chinese law, the only legal method for mainland residents to purchase Hong Kong stocks worth more than 0.1 million yuan is through the method of asset migration after immigration. If the minority Shareholders have already immigrated, their shareholding information should already indicate their status as overseas residents, as Chinese law strictly prohibits dual nationality. Therefore, theoretically, if one declares themselves as a resident of China, including their place of residence, communication address, workplace, mobile number, passport number, etc., being all based in mainland China would exclude the asset migration method.
If the funds used for the above share purchases are suspected of originating from overseas criminal activity that can be prosecuted, this may constitute handling the proceeds of crime (i.e., money laundering) in Hong Kong, and the company should report this to the relevant authorities in Hong Kong.
ELIFE HLDGS is suspended from trading today (12th) and will continue to suspend trading until further notice.
