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Important matters concerning the bankruptcy and reorganization of ST Aikon's (002610) holding subsidiary were first made public by its partners.

Securities Times e-company found that although ST Aikang has not been officially delisted, creditors have taken action to protect their own rights and interests, and rights protection actions such as freezing funds, litigation, and judicial auctions have followed one after another.

Clearly lacking solvency

According to the announcement on July 26, Zhejiang Energy Electric Power (600023) recently received a notice from its shareholding company Zhejiang Aikon Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhejiang Aikon") regarding its bankruptcy reorganization.

The notice stated that Zhejiang Aikon's creditors applied to the Changxing County People's Court of Zhejiang Province for Zhejiang Aikon's bankruptcy reorganization on the grounds that Zhejiang Aikon could not repay its due debts and obviously lacked the ability to repay. The court has issued a "Civil Ruling" and ruled that Zhejiang Aikon should undergo bankruptcy reorganization.

The court held that Zhejiang Aikang already had the reasons for bankruptcy, but it had the value of reorganization and had the possibility of rebirth through reorganization, so the applicant's request for bankruptcy reorganization was in compliance with the law. The court ruled to accept the bankruptcy reorganization application for Zhejiang Aikang, which will take effect from now on.

Data shows that as of April 30, 2024, Zhejiang Aikang's total assets were 2.513 billion yuan, total liabilities were 1.562 billion yuan, and net assets were 951 million yuan. In other words, Zhejiang Aikang is clearly insolvent.

Zhejiang Aikang was established in 2018 with a registered capital of 1.5 billion yuan. ST Aikang holds a 60% stake, Zhejiang Energy Electric Power holds a 20% stake, and Changxing State-owned Assets and other shareholders hold the remaining 20% ​​stake.

Zhejiang Energy Power said that the bankruptcy and reorganization of its joint-stock company Zhejiang Aikang will not affect the company's production and business, and will not affect the company's continued operation. Given that the specific plan for Zhejiang Aikang's bankruptcy and reorganization has not yet been released, and the bankruptcy and reorganization procedures are complicated and long, and the time schedule is difficult to grasp, the company will prudently determine the specific amount of asset impairment provisions based on the progress of Zhejiang Aikang's bankruptcy and reorganization.

However, as of now, as the major shareholder of Zhejiang Aikon, ST Aikon has not disclosed relevant matters.

Added batch freezing of funds and case filing

ST Aikon is one of the earliest private enterprises in China to enter the photovoltaic industry. The company went public in August 2011 and is also the first listed photovoltaic accessories company in China. It is known as the "first stock in photovoltaic accessories."

At present, ST Aikon has four major production bases in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Huzhou, Zhejiang, and Zhoushan, Zhejiang, with a cumulative shipment of nearly 18GW of modules. It has provided customized frames for more than 15GW of module manufacturers and has occupied the first place in the global market share for many consecutive years.

With the deep adjustment of the photovoltaic industry, ST Aikang has suffered losses in recent years. Financial report data shows that in the past five years (2019-2023), the company's net profit was -1.612 billion yuan, 17.1548 million yuan, -406 million yuan, -833 million yuan, and -826 million yuan respectively. In the first quarter of 2024, the company's net profit was -213 million yuan.

Because the company's 2023 annual report was issued with a qualified opinion and an audit report on the major uncertainty statement related to going concern, and the internal control was issued with a negative audit report, the company was issued with other risk warnings. Since being labeled "ST" on May 6, the stock has fallen by the limit for 31 consecutive times.

As ST Aikang's stock price has been below 1 yuan for 20 consecutive trading days, according to relevant regulations, the company's stock will be delisted and suspended from June 19. However, as of now, the company has not officially delisted.

However, seeing that the situation is not good, creditors have begun to defend their rights.

Securities Times e-company reporter found that since June this year, ST Aikang or its subsidiaries have had a large number of new equity freezes, case filings and lawsuits.

According to Tianyancha, on June 14, 18 and 20, the courts in Hangzhou and Ganzhou listed ST Aikang, its related subsidiaries and its actual controller Zou Chenghui as the persons subject to execution, with the execution target ranging from 102 million yuan to 351 million yuan.

At the same time, on June 12, July 3, July 10, July 18, and July 24, courts in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and other places filed eight cases (including multiple cases filed on the same day). ST Aikang or its subsidiaries were either defendants or third parties in these cases.

In addition, ST Aikang or its subsidiaries have had 20 new equity freezes since June. For example, the equity of its subsidiary Suzhou Aikang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., worth 1.508 billion yuan, was frozen by the Dengfeng Municipal People's Court on July 24.

550 million yuan of assets were sold at a reduced price after no one showed interest in them

According to an announcement in June this year, ST Aikon’s four major production bases, Suzhou, Ganzhou and Huzhou, have announced production suspension.

The carrier of ST Aikang's Ganzhou base is Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics"). Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics was sued by Ganzhou Nankang District Chengfa Group Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Nankang Chengfa") because of its inability to repay its debts when they matured.

The Alibaba auction platform shows that from July 23 to 24, the People's Court of Nankang District, Ganzhou City, held a public auction for several industrial land and above-ground assets of Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics. The auction target was assessed at 550 million yuan, and the starting price was 550 million yuan.

However, the auction of Ganzhou Aikon Optoelectronics failed because no one registered.

On May 14 this year, Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics also signed an Equity Cooperation Agreement with Nankang Chengfa, whereby Nankang Chengfa intends to invest no more than 360 million yuan to increase the capital of Aikang Optoelectronics and acquire no less than 51% of Ganzhou Aikang’s equity. At that time, the announcement stated that this equity cooperation reflects Nankang Jianfa’s high recognition of the company’s good future development prospects, which will help further reduce the company’s asset-liability ratio, optimize the capital structure, and improve the company’s risk resistance and profitability.

Little did people know that just over two months later, Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics not only stopped production, but was also put on the auction stage. After the first auction failed, it was sold at a reduced price.

The auction platform shows that the above-mentioned unsold items of Ganzhou Aikon Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. will be auctioned again on August 9-10. The estimated value of the items remains unchanged at 550 million yuan, but the starting price has been reduced to 523 million yuan.

Selling more than2 billion yuan,Claims that no personal profit was made

At the beginning of the listing, Zou Chenghui and his affiliates held a total of 43.63% of ST Aikang's shares. However, as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, Zou Chenghui and his affiliates held a total of 6.4% of ST Aikang's shares.

According to incomplete analysis of Choice data, from 2015 to 2022 alone, Zou Chenghui and his related parties reduced their holdings more than 30 times, with a cumulative reduction of approximately 627 million shares and a cash-out amount of 2.054 billion yuan.

While cashing out in a big way, almost all of the ST Aikang shares held by Zou Chenghui and his affiliates have been pledged. Financial report data shows that as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, Aikang Industrial, controlled by Zou Chenghui, has pledged a total of 98.155 million ST Aikang shares, with a cumulative pledge ratio of up to 99.99%.

In addition, the data also shows that since its listing in 2011, ST Aikang has issued additional shares twice, with a cumulative net amount of 4.746 billion yuan. Including the 800 million yuan raised by the IPO, the total amount raised is 5.546 billion yuan. Since its listing, it has distributed dividends twice, with a cumulative dividend amount of 260 million yuan. The most recent dividend can be traced back to the 10-for-1 dividend implemented in the 2015 annual report.

The official website of Aikang Holding Group shows that recently, Zhangjiagang Municipal Government, Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank, Hua Xia Bank and other creditor banks of Aikang Group held a special meeting with Zou Chenghui, the actual controller of ST Aikang.

During the communication with financial institutions, Zou Chenghui, the actual controller of ST Aikon, responded to the issues that everyone has been concerned about recently, saying that "the more than 2 billion yuan of share reduction was mainly used to repay the principal and interest of banks and institutions for the company or to pay suppliers' accounts payable and other expenses, and part of it was used for related investments. No individual benefited from it."

(Intern Lu Yi also contributed to this article)

Editor: Peng Bo

Proofreader: Peng Qihua