Original title:Car rental in ChinaWelcome the "catcher"BAIC GroupLu Zhengyao may withdraw.

Zhong Tian, a reporter from the Securities Times

On the afternoon of June 1, Shenzhou Youche, which is being suspended, announced that it had signed a "Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement" with Beijing Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (BAIC) on May 31. According to the agreement, BAIC will acquire no more than 450 million shares from Shenzhou Youche, equivalent to about 21.26% of the total issued share capital of Shenzhou car Rental. At the same time, the second step of the share acquisition plan of Shenzhou Youche and Warbug Pincus's company Amber Gem has also been terminated.

According to the first phase of the deal previously completed with Huaping, 21.26% of the shares are already owned by Shenzhou excellent car Rental. If this transaction is completed, Lu Zhengyao, the head of Shenzhou Department, will withdraw from Shenzhou car Rental completely. Affected by this, car rental in China soared by 23.33% yesterday.

After the relevant matters are disclosed, Shenzhou excellent car will resume trading on June 2.

BAIC stepped in to save the scene.

自LUCKN COFFEE DRCAfter the financial fraud was exposed, the "Department of China" has been in a turbulent situation. Among them, Shenzhou car Rental, which is listed in Hong Kong, has been trying to distance itself from LUCKN COFFEE DRC and admitted that it is looking for a successor to ease the financial pressure.

On June 1, with the announcement of China Rental car and China excellent car successively, the new "pick-up Man" surfaced. Combining the announcements of the two companies, Shenzhou Youche has signed a "Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement" with BAIC on May 31. According to the strategic cooperation agreement, the pricing mechanism of this transaction will take into account the market price and the fair value of the company.

At the same time, Shenzhou Youche reminded that the above strategic cooperation agreement signed between the company and BAIC is a matter of principle and is not legally binding, and the specific cooperation arrangements are subject to the business cooperation agreement formally signed by both parties.

As a matter of fact, BAIC is not the first "catcher" of the "China Department". Prior to this, car rental in China, which was in turmoil, was reported one after another.CTRIP、Geely AutomobileNews of the offer was received, but all were denied.

Amber Gem, a subsidiary of Warbug Pincus, an American private equity firm, appeared on April 16. On the same day, China car Rental announced that Amber Gem will acquire a total of 17.11% of China car Rental shares in two batches. The transaction is planned to be carried out in two steps: in the first share acquisition agreement, Amber Gem acquired 98.608 million shares of China Rental car from the wholly-owned subsidiary of China UAV at HK $2.30 per share for a total price of approximately HK $227 million; in the second share acquisition agreement, Amber Gem conditionally acquired no more than 264 million shares of China Rental car from the wholly-owned subsidiary of China Auto at HK $3.40 per share.

However, as BAIC intends to come to the rescue, the deal between Shenzhou Youche and Amber Gem has also been shelved. Shenzhou Youche said in the announcement that the company and Amber Gem signed the termination Agreement on May 30 after friendly negotiation, and both parties agreed not to proceed with the acquisition of the second batch of shares under the Sale and purchase Agreement and to relieve the company of its exclusive obligations to consider other potential transactions.

Car rental in China has soared by 23%.

As of the date of disclosure of the announcement, the company held 450 million shares of Shenzhou car Rental through subsidiaries at all levels, accounting for about 21.26%, the company said in the announcement. This means that if the deal between Shenzhou Youche and BAIC is settled in accordance with this transaction, Shenzhou Youche will withdraw completely. Car rental in China gradually eliminated the influence of LUCKN COFFEE DRC and Lu Zhengyao.

As a result, the volume and price of car rental in China soared by 25% at one point, closing up 23.33% to HK $2.22, and the turnover soared to HK $104 million, with the latest market capitalization of HK $4.71 billion. China car rental shares halved on the day of LUCKN COFFEE DRC's financial fraud on April 3, and then the share price experienced big ups and downs, and the latest closing price is still 48.37% lower than the HK $4.30 before the LUCKN COFFEE DRC storm.

China car rental announced its results for the first quarter of this year on May 31, with revenue of 1.325 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) in the first quarter, down 28.3% from the same period last year. The net loss was 188 million yuan, compared with a net profit of 390 million yuan and a loss of 0.089 yuan per share in the same period last year.

Car rental in China said that the outbreak of novel coronavirus at the end of January had led to a sharp drop in demand for car rental and the temporary closure of several service points. In the first quarter, car rental income decreased by 30.6% to 878 million yuan, while fleet rental and other income fell by about 64% to 69 million yuan. Due to the introduction of a discount lease program with a longer lease term to stimulate demand, the average daily rent decreased by 22.1% to 176 yuan compared with the same period last year. By the end of the first quarter, the company had liabilities of 13.184 billion yuan and total cash of 3.305 billion yuan.

Some analysts believe that although revenue declined in the first quarter of this year, as the first place in the car rental field, China car rental still has a certain profitability after the special period of the epidemic. Perhaps because of this, Warbug Pincus, the existing BAIC Group, is willing to take over and help Lu Zhengyao out of his predicament.

On the other hand, the Department of China also has a long history with BAIC. Last year, China excellent car started fromFukuda MotorIt acquired a 67% stake in Bowo, while Foton Motor reported in the first quarter of 2020 that BAIC was its largest shareholder, with a stake of 27.46%. On April 13 this year, BAIC and Shenzhou Youche jointly announced that the two sides would reach a comprehensive strategic cooperation through vehicle procurement, new automobile retail, technical cooperation, big data and financial services.

Responsible Editor: Li Siyang