As the first super-long holiday in the second half of this year, the 8-day extended version of Golden Week attracted much attention. Just as the countdown to the long holidays was approaching,AliIt has taken action. The partner is one of the largest outbound travel wholesalers in ChinaZhongxin Travel (002707).
On the evening of September 29, Zhongxin Travel announced that Feng Bin, the controlling shareholder and actual controller, signed a “Share Transfer Agreement” with Alibaba Network. Feng Bin transferred 5% of his shares in Zhongxin Travel to the transferee at a price of 8.46 yuan/share. At the same time, the company and Alibaba Travel signed a “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement”. Through Alibaba Travel's advantages in technology, the Internet, big data technology, brand, and system management, combined with the company's experience in products, operations, procurement, distribution, etc., they provide mutual cooperation resource support to carry out comprehensive cooperation.
In addition, the new company established by Zhongxin Travel and Alibaba Travel as a joint venture of 150 million yuan will mainly be engaged in the export of system capabilities for tourism product distribution solutions and tourism product distribution platform business.
Carrying out comprehensive cooperation
Affected by the epidemic, Zhongxin Travel is currently in a critical period of transformation and development. In order to promote the company's further development, it plans to introduce Ali Network, an investor that has a synergistic effect with the company's business and plans to develop strategic cooperation with the company.
On September 29, the controlling shareholder and actual controller Feng Bin signed a “Share Transfer Agreement” with Alibaba Network to transfer 45.47 million shares of Zhongxin Travel to Alibaba Network at a price of 8.46 yuan/share, accounting for about 5% of the total share capital. The total share transfer price was 385 million yuan. At the same time, Feng Bin, the controlling shareholder and actual controller of the company, plans to use loans to provide all share transfer prices to listed companies for use. According to the announcement, on September 29, the board of directors of Zhongxin Travel reviewed and approved, agreeing that the company plans to borrow a total of no more than 500 million yuan from the actual controller, Feng Bin, for daily operations, for a loan period of no more than 24 months.
Prior to this change in equity, Alibaba Network did not hold shares in listed companies. After this change in equity, Alibaba Network will directly hold 5% of the listed company's shares. Meanwhile, the total number of shares held by Feng Bin in listed companies fell to 24.25%, but Feng Bin is still the controlling shareholder and actual controller of the listed company. This change in equity will not cause a change in control of the listed company.
Alibaba Network is investing in the acquisition of shares in Zhongxin Travel, as well as supporting strategic cooperation. On September 29, Zhongxin Travel and Ali Travel signed a “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement”. Through Alibaba Travel's advantages in technology, the Internet, big data technology, brand, and system management, combined with the company's experience in products, operations, procurement, distribution, etc., it provides mutual cooperation resource support to carry out comprehensive cooperation.
Specific cooperation projects include the two sides agreeing to cooperate on products and provide mutual support. In terms of products, the company agreed to provide Alibaba Travel with support for various policies, including but not limited to platform distribution, purchase prices, settlement, priority supply, and exclusive agency. The two sides agreed to explore and promote the “new offline tourism retail” business model and discuss brand cooperation and planning on the channel side. Pilot stores will be opened on a trial basis in regions agreed by both parties, and the next development plan and brand integration will be determined based on the principles of prioritizing store implementation, development, and comprehensive revenue.
In addition, in order to improve the company's online payment level and the efficiency of capital use, Ali Travel agreed to provide solution support for the company in terms of payment systems. Ali Travel agreed to support the company with system solutions in terms of internal control management, sales and procurement payments, and capital settlement.
Seek a breakthrough in tourism
In line with the implementation of the strategic cooperation agreement, a new company will be formed by Zhongxin Travel and Ali Travel in a joint venture of 150 million yuan.
Zhongxin Travel announced on the same day that the company plans to jointly invest in a joint venture with Ali Travel. The company has a registered capital of 150 million yuan. The company and Alibaba Travel will invest 67.5 million yuan and 82.5 million yuan respectively, accounting for 45% and 55% of the total registered capital. The joint venture is mainly engaged in tourism product distribution solution system capability export and tourism product distribution platform business.
Zhongxin Travel said that the establishment of the joint venture will facilitate better implementation of the business cooperation projects proposed in the “Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement” signed with it, promote strategic cooperation between the company and Alibaba Group, increase the popularity and competitiveness of the two sides in the field of tourism products, and expand the overall market share of their respective products and services.
According to the equity report disclosed on the same day, Alibaba Network currently holds shares in a number of AH listed companies, covering home, health, advertising, supermarkets, and logistics. More specifically, Alibaba Network holdsBeautiful health9.4% shares, heldEasyhome9.58% of shares, heldSenfang Technology14.1% of shares, heldMass media5.28% of shares, heldLianhua supermarket18% shares, heldYuantong Express12% shares.
As Alibaba Online holds shares in Zhongxin Travel, Ali's AH share layout will add a part to tourism. The impact of the pandemic on Zhongxin Tourism will also be mitigated.
Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhongxin Travel's domestic tour groups stopped starting January 24, and the company's outbound tour groups stopped starting January 27, 2020, that is, starting January 27, 2020, the company suspended the operation of group travel and “flight+hotel” travel products. Up to now, the domestic travel business has opened, but the outbound travel business has not yet resumed.
According to the interim report, in the first half of this year, Zhongxin Travel achieved total revenue of 1,241 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 78.4%; a loss of 176 million yuan, while net profit for the same period last year was 110 million yuan.
The resumption of the outbound travel business is uncertain. Zhongxin Travel has accelerated the development of new businesses, and joined hands with China to enter the duty-free market in the first half of this year. Zhongxin Travel and China Insurance Group signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement. The two sides will launch a “travel+shopping” model in domestic and foreign countries to complement each other by utilizing their superior resources such as customer sources, supplies, and channels. At the same time, a cooperation agreement was signed with the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television, and Sports to assist the company to use the tourism business as an entry point and enter Hainan to carry out business.
Regarding this in-depth cooperation with Alibaba Network, Zhongxin Travel said that the transaction is mainly based on the company's established development strategy, promotes the upgrading of the company's existing business and continues to deepen the company's transformation and development. Through this loan, the company's working capital needs can be solved, the company's loan structure can be optimized, and the comprehensive cost of the company's financing can be reduced. It has a positive effect on the company's development and meets the company's long-term development needs.