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Our reporter Li Jiajia and Li Weilai reported from Beijing

In trouble!

On the morning of July 29, the former "photovoltaic star stock" ST Aikon (002610.SZ) announced that the court has ruled to accept the reorganization of its holding subsidiary Zhejiang Aikon Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Zhejiang Aikon Optoelectronics").

It is reported that ST Aikang (formerly Aikang Technology) was established in 2006 and listed in 2011. It is the first photovoltaic accessories listed company in China. However, recently, the company was caught in the storm of par value delisting. Because the closing price of the stock was less than 1 yuan for 20 consecutive trading days, it hit the delisting red line. On June 22, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a prior notice of delisting to it.

What is even more worrying is that the media revealed that the glass door of Aikang Technology's headquarters in Hangzhou was closed and almost deserted, and some of the company's employees were transferred to the Zhangjiagang headquarters in Jiangyin. The door of the Zhangjiagang headquarters was not spared either, and some suppliers came to collect debts due to overdue payments.

In order to further verify the relevant information and understand the current situation, the reporter tried to contact the company's secretary's office on the afternoon of July 31 and August 1, but no one answered the calls.

More than 270,000 stockholders were trapped

Data from the Eastmoney App shows that as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, ST Aikang had 280,500 shareholders. On May 20, 2024, there were still 276,800 shareholders. According to public data online, as of the end of the first quarter, the average number of shareholders of A-share listed companies was about 45,000. Obviously, ST Aikang has more shareholders than many companies.

Why does the company have so many investors? There are reports in the market that this may be related to the company's frequent release of some favorable information to investors. On May 8, 2024, ST Aikang's investor relations activity record sheet showed that the company had sufficient orders on hand, with a total sales of about 5 billion yuan for components, brackets, and frames, and sufficient capacity utilization.

But in just over a month, the company announced several suspension news. Not only that, in April, an investor asked on the interactive communication platform, "Is there a risk of ST after three consecutive years of losses for Aikon Technology?" At that time, the company replied, "There is no risk of ST for the company at present." As a result, it was suddenly ST on May 6. Since then, the company has started a road of continuous limit down, and the stock price has experienced 31 consecutive limit downs until it was suspended, and the limit down has never been opened.

Zou Chenghui is not only the founder, chairman and president of the company, but also serves as the acting secretary of the board. Some investors believe that the above-mentioned reply that there is no risk of being delisted is no different from a promise made by Zou Chenghui himself.

A shareholder of Aikang Technology told the China Times reporter that she invested more than 400,000 yuan and started placing orders on May 6. After a few days, she was unable to sell the shares, so she simply ignored it until May 20, when the stock price fell to 1 yuan. She began to worry. Later, she kept placing orders but could not sell the shares.

During the conversation with this shareholder, the reporter learned that they were collecting shares because becoming a major shareholder would allow them to understand the company's internal situation. She wanted to ask why the company had reached such a state, with 31 consecutive limit drops after being delisted, leaving no opportunity for shareholders to "escape", and they were all stuck inside. According to her, there were many retired grandpas and grandmas among the shareholders who took out their retirement money to invest.

It is worth mentioning that when Aikang went public in 2011, the family of Zou Chenghui, the company's major shareholder, held a total of 43.63% of the company's shares. According to statistics, from 2017 to 2022, the Zou family reduced its holdings of listed company shares by more than 600 million shares, nearly 2 billion yuan, through three companies, namely Jiangsu Aikang Industrial Group Co., Ltd., Jiangyin Aikang Investment Co., Ltd., and Aikang International Holdings Co., Ltd.

Lawsuits

The above-mentioned shareholder also revealed to the reporter that they (shareholders) contacted Yuhang Guotou last week, and Yuhang Guotou contacted Aikang Technology. They held a three-party meeting on Monday, at which time they raised ten major questions, which were answered one by one. However, she pointed out that the company had issued a notice of increase in holdings before, but it has not been implemented, so it cannot be fully believed now. If Zhejiang Aikang Optoelectronics is successfully reorganized, it may be believed.

It is understood that Suzhou Aikang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. ("Suzhou Aikang Optoelectronics") is the largest shareholder of Zhejiang Aikang Optoelectronics, holding approximately 64.46% of the shares. Zhejiang Energy Power holds 20% of the shares, and the remaining six companies hold lower proportions. As of April 30, 2024, the respondent Zhejiang Aikang Optoelectronics had total assets of 2.513 billion yuan, total liabilities of 1.562 billion yuan, and net assets of 951 million yuan.

On July 29, Aikang Technology announced that its creditor Jiangyin Kangda Packaging Products Co., Ltd. applied to the Changxing Court of Zhejiang Province for bankruptcy reorganization of Zhejiang Aikang Optoelectronics on the grounds that it could not repay its due debts and clearly lacked the ability to repay. The court believed that the company already had the reasons for bankruptcy, but had the value of reorganization and had the possibility of rebirth through reorganization. The applicant's request for bankruptcy reorganization was in compliance with the law and was accepted for filing.

Regarding this reorganization, Aikon Technology said that Zhejiang Aikon Optoelectronics intends to actively communicate with strategic partners, shareholders and creditors through the reorganization process to protect the equity of investors, introduce strategic investors, optimize the debt structure, resume work and production as soon as possible, and protect the rights and interests of small and medium-sized investors. If the reorganization is unsuccessful after entering the bankruptcy reorganization procedure, this bankruptcy reorganization will be converted into bankruptcy liquidation.

However, the above-mentioned shareholder told the reporter that they hope Aikang can survive, because only if it survives, they can recover a little bit of their losses. If it goes bankrupt, they will lose everything. She mentioned that they are secondary market investors, the last batch, and they will get their turn only after everyone else has been compensated. For 280,000 people, even if the average is 2 yuan, it will cost 5.6 billion yuan.

However, before the bankruptcy and reorganization of Zhejiang Aikang Optoelectronics, Aikang Technology had already been in trouble, and the company provided huge guarantees to its subsidiaries and non-consolidated companies. According to Wind data, as of the end of 2023, ST Aikang's external guarantees totaled 2.042 billion yuan, and the total amount of guarantees for its holding subsidiaries totaled 6.272 billion yuan, accounting for 318.17% of its net assets.

As of June 22, in addition to the disclosed litigation and arbitration matters, the company and its holding subsidiaries had a total of 36 litigation and arbitration matters in the past year, involving a total amount of RMB 760 million, accounting for 37.44% of the company's net assets. All of them were cases in which the company was the defendant.

In early July this year, another wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, Ganzhou Aikon Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ganzhou Aikon Optoelectronics"), was sued for debt default. Eventually, some of its assets were publicly auctioned on Taobao's judicial auction network platform with a starting price of approximately 550 million yuan. The auction items included some plots of land, buildings, structures and ancillary facilities and real estate.

Several subsidiaries stopped production

It is reported that Aikon Technology mainly produces solar cells and modules. In 2023, this revenue accounted for 74.46% of the company's total revenue. It also produces aluminum frames for solar modules, photovoltaic bracket systems and other products. The 2023 annual report shows that the company has four major production bases in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Huzhou, Zhejiang, and Zhoushan, Zhejiang. However, in June this year, the company issued two notices on suspension of production, and three of the above production bases have stopped production.

First, from June 8, the company's holding subsidiaries Ganzhou Aikang Optoelectronics, Zhejiang Aikang Optoelectronics, and Huzhou Aikang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huzhou Aikang Optoelectronics") planned to temporarily suspend the company's high-efficiency solar cell module production line. Subsequently, from June 12, 2024, Suzhou Aikang Optoelectronics also implemented a temporary suspension of work and production.

Regarding the reason for the suspension, Akcome Technology pointed out, "In view of the market situation of the high-efficiency solar cells and modules produced by the company's holding subsidiaries and the difficulties in the company's supply chain, sales, labor organization, etc., and considering that some of the company's and its holding subsidiaries' capital accounts have been frozen, the company's management has decided to temporarily suspend work and production of the company's main holding subsidiaries. The suspension is expected to last no more than 3 months."

However, it is worth noting that in 2023, the total revenue of Aikon Technology was 4.662 billion yuan, of which the revenues of its wholly-owned subsidiaries Suzhou Aikon Optoelectronics, Ganzhou Aikon Optoelectronics, and Huzhou Aikon Optoelectronics were 3.004 billion yuan, 1.375 billion yuan, and 113 million yuan, respectively, and the controlling subsidiary Zhejiang Aikon Optoelectronics had a revenue of 1.327 billion yuan last year.

The impact of this production suspension on Aikon Technology is self-evident. Aikon Technology also mentioned that as the company's main source of operating income, with the suspension of production of its major holding subsidiaries, the company's operating income in 2024 will decline significantly.

Regarding the production situation of the company's other Zhoushan base, the reporter tried to contact the secretary of the board of directors to inquire about the production situation, but no one answered the call.

The reporter noticed that the company had jointly invested with China Resources Power and Zhoushan Haitou in 2021 to establish the HJT joint venture Zhejiang Runhai New Energy Co., Ltd. Later, the reporter called the phone number displayed on the Qichacha App. The staff of the joint venture company told the reporter of China Times that the company was not affected by Aikang Technology. Aikang only holds 20% of the shares. The company has issued a statement. According to the statement on the company's official account, Aikang Technology is a shareholder, does not participate in the actual daily operations, does not participate in the company's major decisions, and has no actual control position.

Editor-in-charge: Li Weilai Editor-in-chief: Zhang Yuning