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produced by radar finance | edited by li yihui | deep sea

huang wei, the low-key and mysterious former richest man in wenzhou with a net worth of tens of billions, seems to have encountered difficulties.

recently, the overdue payment of related trust products of zhejiang xinhu group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "xinhu group"), a well-known private enterprise in zhejiang, has attracted attention. according to reports, the group encouraged employees to subscribe to the company's customized trust products in the name of "employee benefits" in the early stage, but in june this year, xinhu group was exposed to the payment problems of two products of huaxin trust, an internal employee financial product, involving a total amount of up to 4.68 billion yuan.

tianyancha app shows that xinhu group was established in 1994 with a registered capital of 348 million yuan. after equity penetration, the actual controller of the company is huang wei.

"if we get the mine back, everyone's money will be settled. if we don't get it back, i might go bankrupt." last month, a rights protection employee provided a video to the media in which huang wei clasped his hands together and begged everyone to tide over the difficulties with the company. it is reported that the mining rights huang wei mentioned refer to the dispute related to xinjiang yihua mining co., ltd., which may result in the recovery of about 20 billion yuan of assets of the "xinhu group".

huang wei made his fortune by selling glasses, trading stocks and futures, and then making money in real estate, and then he started to maneuver in the capital market. he once became the richest man in wenzhou, and the "xinhu group" he led was well-known in the market. however, the "xinhu group" is now under financial pressure, and there are frequent reports of equity changes and asset freezes.

employees purchase products that go viral

in june this year, xinhu group was exposed to a redemption crisis in its internal employee wealth management products. this was a trust product issued by huaxin trust on june 8, 2022, which promised to obtain an annualized return of 11% in two years, but it has not been redeemed yet.

according to china newsweek, since 2012, companies under the xinhu group have encouraged employees to purchase company-customized trust products issued by huaxin trust in the name of "welfare products". these products are opened twice a year, and the principal and interest are paid either during the period of existence or upon maturity.

this model operated for 12 years until it suddenly broke out in the middle of this year. according to other sources, a month before the repayment crisis, xinhu group was still calling on employees to participate in a new round of subscription.

on july 10, xinhu group sent a letter to the group’s trade union committee stating that in early june this year, due to the impact of unexpected events, the company encountered great liquidity difficulties and failed to allocate funds to the trade union in a timely manner, resulting in the inability to repay the investment funds of huaxin trust products in june and november 2024 in a timely manner.

according to two "debt confirmation notices" sent by the xinhu group labor union to xinhu group, as of july 15, huaxin trust·xinhu group single fund trust still had 3.1318 billion yuan and expected returns that had not been redeemed; huaxin trust·xinyuan no. 5 collective fund trust still had 1.5493 ​​billion yuan in principal and expected returns that had not been redeemed; the two totaled 4.6811 billion yuan.

subsequently, employees began to defend their rights and went to the xinhu group headquarters to seek explanations, but the problem has not been resolved to this day.

the whereabouts of more than 4.6 billion yuan of funds are unknown, and some investors believe that huaxin trust, as the trustee, cannot escape blame. however, huaxin trust posted a clarification statement on its official website, saying that during the existence of the "xinhu group single fund trust" and "huaxin trust·xinyuan no. 5 collective fund trust plan" projects, the trust interests have been paid to investors normally in accordance with the trust documents, and there is no project overdue.

huaxin trust distanced itself from the matter, and investors began to seek solutions from huang wei. several rights protection employees mentioned that the company had stated in its publicity that huang wei and li ping would provide an irrevocable joint and several liability guarantee for the trust.

according to yinshi finance, on august 9, xinhu group employee representatives finally met with xinhu group chairman huang wei at the xihu district petition bureau in hangzhou. in the video shot by the employees, huang wei clasped his hands together and said, "i have been doing business for more than 40 years, but i never thought that our tens of billions of assets would be robbed. (this incident) has caused trouble for everyone. i hope everyone will work with the company to overcome the difficulties."

huang wei said that he believed he would be able to get the mine back, and if he failed to do so he might go bankrupt, and if that were the case he might be even worse off than the investors.

huang wei's response also pointed to a mining equity dispute as the reason for the overdue payment of xinhu group's related trust products.

caught in a 10 billion yuan mining rights dispute

as the incident unfolded, the management of xinhu group and huang wei both confirmed that the cause of the group's liquidity crisis was a dispute related to xinjiang yihua mining co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "xinjiang yihua mining").

according to yicai global, on august 15, huang wei responded that it was indeed due to the dispute over xinjiang yihua mining that caused the tight funds. "the more than 6 billion yuan in cash and 20 billion yuan in assets i invested in it were all 'robbed' in early june." regarding the overdue trust, huang wei said that there is currently no relief plan and it is necessary to wait for the dispute to be resolved.

tianyancha app shows that xinjiang yikuang was established in 2006 and is located in changji hui autonomous prefecture, xinjiang uygur autonomous region. it is an enterprise mainly engaged in non-metallic mineral products industry.

in terms of shareholders, xinjiang yikuang is currently held by xinjiang yihua chemical co., ltd. with a 53.93% stake, yichang state-owned assets supervision and administration commission holds a 41.07% stake, and xinjiang energy (group) co., ltd. holds a 5% stake. the ultimate actual controller is the yichang state-owned assets supervision and administration commission.

it is worth noting that historical shareholder information shows that beijing huayi loncin trading co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "huayi loncin") once held 41.07% of xinjiang yikuang's equity, but withdrew all of it on august 24 this year. after the equity penetration, the beneficial owner of huayi loncin is huang wei.

public information shows that in 2010, xinhu group acquired 100% of the shares of huayi loncin company held by seven natural person shareholders including hu, thereby obtaining 50% of the shares of xinjiang yikuang company. later, due to capital increase and stock expansion and other matters, huayi loncin's shareholding ratio was diluted.

in february 2018, the hubei huangshi municipal supervisory committee opened an investigation into hu, a former shareholder of huayi loncin, for suspected serious violations of law. while the case was under review by the procuratorate, in march 2019, the tianmen municipal procuratorate directly prosecuted huayi loncin for corporate bribery to the tianmen court.

in october 2022, the tianmen court made the original first-instance judgment, ruling that huayi loncin "was guilty of corporate bribery and exempted from criminal punishment" and that huayi loncin's "illegal gains from bribery and all equity and interest held in xinjiang yihua mining co., ltd. should be recovered and returned to the state-owned assets supervision and administration commission of the yichang municipal people's government."

after that, the tianmen court reaffirmed the first instance and the hanjiang intermediate court made the second instance judgment, and the results were the same as the first instance judgment. on august 24 this year, the tianmen court forced the transfer of the relevant equity of xinjiang yikuang held by huayi loncin to the name of yichang state-owned assets supervision and administration commission.

according to xinhu group, as of december 31, 2023, xinjiang yikuang company had undistributed profits of 6.737 billion yuan and shareholders' equity of 7.371 billion yuan.

zhong sheng, former chairman of xinjiang yi mining company, said that xinjiang yi mining turned a profit in 2017, and its performance has been rising year by year in recent years, with net profit stable at more than 2 billion yuan. "according to market valuation, the equity held by xinhu is worth about 20 billion yuan."

the territory of "xinhu system" shrinks

wenzhou business daily reported that huang wei and li ping, a couple, had been the top three wenzhou businessmen for three consecutive years with a net worth of 29 billion yuan in the 2016 hurun rich list. as a result, huang wei won the title of the richest man in wenzhou, zhejiang.

although xinhu group is currently facing constant turmoil, as the former richest man in wenzhou, huang wei still has a considerable fortune. on the 2024 hurun global rich list, huang wei and li ping's wealth reached 16.5 billion yuan, ranking 1577th.

public information shows that huang wei was born in 1959 in wenzhou. he started his career by selling glasses, trading stocks and speculating in futures. around 1991, huang wei rented several counters in hangzhou international building to sell glasses. at that time, the glasses manufacturing industry was a pillar industry in wenzhou. huang wei earned more than 20,000 yuan by opening a glasses store, becoming one of the few people with an annual income of 10,000 yuan at that time.

in early 1992, shanghai introduced a new stock issuance method, and investors could only buy stocks with subscription certificates. huang wei invested the 20,000 yuan he earned to buy a large number of subscription certificates. this reselling of subscription certificates brought huang wei millions of yuan in original capital accumulation.

two years later, huang wei founded xinhu group and other companies and entered the real estate industry. after making a fortune in the real estate sector, huang wei entered the capital market.

after 2000, the "xinhu group" successively took over shaoxing baida (later renamed xinhu chuangye and merged intoxinhu zhongbao), harbin high-tech group (now known asxiangcai shares) and zhongbao shares (later renamed xinhu zhongbao), three listed companies, formed the “troika” of the xinhu group.

from opening an eyewear store to speculating in stocks and futures and then entering the real estate industry, huang wei's every step was in line with the trend of the times, just like "boss bao" in "flowers". however, as the real estate industry went down, huang wei's xinhu group also began to actively transform, with finance as its main focus.

at its peak, the xinhu group not only controlled two listed companies, xinhu zhongbao and xiangcai holdings, but also invested inchina citic bank、sunshine insuranceand many other financial institutions, with a capital map spanning securities, futures, insurance, banking and other financial industries.

however, with the real estate industry cooling down and financial industry profits declining, the "xinhu group" is no longer in its heyday. the first to come under pressure was the real estate business.

flushifind data shows that the net profit attributable to the parent company of xinhu zhongbao, which mainly engages in real estate business, has shrunk from 2.237 billion yuan in 2021 to 1.631 billion yuan in 2023. in the first half of this year, the company once again "increased revenue but not profit".

as profitability declines, the "xinhu group" is reducing its shareholding in xinhu zhongbao and eventually giving up control. on august 22, xinhu zhongbao announced that the company was officially renamed quzhou xin'an development co., ltd. and has completed the relevant industrial and commercial registration procedures, and was officially "taken over" by quzhou state-owned assets.

another example of huang wei's contraction is the transfer of xiangcai shares equity to convert debt into cash. on the evening of july 8, xiangcai shares announced that the actual controller of the company's third largest shareholder, caishang industrial, will change its executive partner from xinhu holdings to zhejiang special capital under zhejiang state-owned assets. after the change is completed, the shares of xiangcai shares held by xinhu holdings and its concerted parties will be reduced from 59.40% to 41.91%, and the shareholding of zhejiang state-owned assets will increase to 17.49%.

it is reported that the "xinhu group" sold its 17.49% equity interest in xiangcai shares in order to offset the debt owed to zhejiang merchants assets and zhejiang northern assets totaling 3.294 billion yuan.

in addition, two companies in which the "xinhu group" participated in the ipo failed. in july 2022, xinhu futures submitted its application for listing on the shanghai stock exchange main board, but in june this year, the sponsorhaitong securitiesthe sponsorship is unilaterally withdrawn and the company’s ipo is terminated.

in june 2023, bangsheng technology, in which the "xinhu group" holds a stake, also submitted an application for the shanghai stock exchange science and technology innovation board. however, at the end of the year, the company and the sponsor submitted an application to withdraw the ipo, and bangsheng technology's listing was terminated.

in addition, tianyancha shows that since august this year, xinhu group has added 6 new equity freeze information, involving equity amounts ranging from 9.9 million yuan to 160 million yuan. as the capital map continues to shrink, whether huang wei and his "xinhu group" can successfully get out of trouble, radar finance will continue to pay attention.