Author | Xie Mei bath
Edit| Fu Ying
Source | Unicorn Finance
Centennial Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Centennial Life") finally ushered in a "new handsome".
On June 26, Dai Wenhao, the former deputy general manager of China Pacific Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CPIC Life"), was approved to serve as the director and general manager of Centennial Life. Before the general manager is in place, in November 2023, Wang Xinhao, who crossed over from the banking industry, has been approved to be the chairman of Centennial Life.
Source: State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration
At the beginning of its establishment, Centennial Life was favored by real estate capital, and in 2015, the "Wanda Department" maintained a profit for 7 years.
However, the vicissitudes of the world are like white clouds and dogs, and in 2022, Centennial Life has fallen into a loss, with net assets of -420 million yuan in the first quarter of 2023, and the last two risk comprehensive rating results are C.
However, with the capital increase of Dalian state-owned assets of 110 million yuan and the "first and second leaders" have been settled, Centennial Life is gradually getting out of the predicament.
1
The general manager took office,
Will it be able to stop the loss-making performance?
Dai Wenhao's qualifications were approved, filling the three-year vacancy of the general manager position of Centennial Life.
In July 2021, after the resignation of the former general manager Shan Yong, Centennial Life appointed Sun Xiaohong as the interim head of the company, and adjusted to Yu Weihong after December of the same year, but none of them "turned positive".
Dai Wenhao is a "strong general" who has grown up in the CPIC life insurance system and has rich experience in life insurance operation and management. According to the data, Dai Wenhao used to be the deputy general manager of CPIC Life Insurance; Manager of Information Technology Department and Human Resources Department of CPIC Life Insurance Ningbo Branch; Assistant General Manager and Deputy General Manager of the Information Technology Department of CPIC Life, General Manager of the General Control Management Center, General Manager of the Contract Department, General Manager of the Operation Planning Department, General Manager of CPIC Life Jiangxi Branch, etc.
Source: Canned Gallery
As the general manager of Centennial Life, Dai Wenhao has a heavy burden.
Centennial Life was approved to be established in 2009, headquartered in Dalian, is the first Chinese-funded life insurance legal entity in Northeast China, at that time its founding shareholders lineup luxurious, including state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, Hong Kong-funded enterprises, Liaoning billionaire Sun Xishuang, Zhejiang richest woman Zhou Xiaoguang are the private enterprise bosses behind Centennial Life.
Among the many real estate companies that have joined Centennial Life through capital increase and share expansion, the largest name is Dalian Wanda Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dalian Wanda"), a subsidiary of Wang Jianlin.
In June 2014, Dalian Wanda acquired 100 million shares of Centennial Life in the hands of Guodian Power (600795.SH) at a price of 122.5 million yuan, accounting for 4.2% of the total share capital at that time, becoming one of the major shareholders of Centennial Life. In January 2015, it took over the era of Wanheng (600241. SH) 100 million shares of Centennial Life, representing 2.8% of the total share capital at that time.
In September 2015, the registered capital of Centennial Life increased from 3.53 billion yuan to 7.795 billion yuan. By the end of 2015, Dalian Wanda had become the largest shareholder of Centennial Life.
Source: Canned Gallery
In fact, Wanda was once regarded as the "lucky star" of Centennial Life, and after its ownership, Centennial Life turned losses into profits and maintained profitability for 7 years.
Specifically, from 2015 to 2021, the net profit of Centennial Life was 32 million yuan, 207 million yuan, 351 million yuan, 697 million yuan, 223 million yuan, 802 million yuan, and 588 million yuan respectively.
But in 2022, Centennial Life lost 2.71 billion yuan, and in the first quarter of 2023, the company continued to lose 1.05 billion yuan. At the same time, Centennial Life's net assets in 2022 plummeted by 7.8 billion to 323 million yuan, and its net assets were -420 million yuan by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
In terms of investment income, the return on investment of Centennial Life in 2022 will be 4.13%, down 1.55 percentage points year-on-year, and the comprehensive return on investment will be 2.15%, down 2.87 percentage points year-on-year. At the end of the first quarter of 2023, the investment return and comprehensive investment return of Centennial Life were 0.87% and 1.05%, respectively.
Source: Centennial Life Solvency Report
2
More than 60% of the equity is in an abnormal state
In addition to performance, Centennial Life also has equity governance issues.
On June 14, the State Administration of Financial Supervision disclosed the sixth batch of 18 shareholders with major violations of laws and regulations, and the violations of laws and regulations of shareholders mainly include: the source of funds for shareholding does not comply with regulatory regulations, the equity of banking and insurance institutions is held on behalf of the company in violation of regulations, and the relationship between affiliated parties and concerted actions is concealed, and there are criminal acts such as gangsters and vices.
Hongcheng Building (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hongcheng Building"), a shareholder of Centennial Life, appeared on this "list".
As of the first quarter of 2023, Hongcheng Building holds 132 million shares of Centennial Life, ranking 14th in the list of shareholders, and is one of the few shareholders of the insurance company with normal equity status.
Specifically, as of the first quarter of 2023, 10 of the 17 shareholders of Centennial Life have been pledged or frozen, with a total of 5.069 billion shares pledged, accounting for 65.03% of all shares, including 900 million shares held by Dalian Wanda.
Source: Centennial Life Solvency Report
In fact, since the second half of 2017, as the peak of debt repayment is approaching, the "Wanda series" has started the mode of "selling, selling, selling", and Centennial Life is also among the sales plans.
At the end of 2018, real estate giant Greentown China (3900. HK) announced that its company planned to acquire 900 million shares of Centennial Life Insurance from Dalian Wanda for 2.718 billion yuan, accounting for 11.55% of the latter's shares, becoming the largest shareholder, but the transaction was eventually abandoned.
At the same time, many shareholders who once favored Centennial Life also have the intention of retreating.
In July 2019, China Aoyuan (3883. HK) announced that it will acquire a 13.86% stake in Centennial Life Insurance for 3.261 billion yuan in cash, and the sellers are Dalian Urban Construction Group, Dalian Qianhao Kunshi Real Estate and Dalian Guotai Real Estate. In January 2020, the acquisition was terminated.
On October 31, 2023, 400 million shares of Centennial Life were "listed" on the Ali asset auction platform, with a starting price of 692 million yuan, and no one took over. At present, the 400 million shares are still pledged by Shin Kong Holding Group Co., Ltd. in Xiamen International Bank Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch.
Source: National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System
In the first quarter of 2023, Centennial Life's core solvency adequacy ratio was 64.43%, a decrease of 12.73% from the fourth quarter of 2022. According to Centennial Life's forecast, its core solvency adequacy ratio will fall again to 55.48% in the second quarter of 2023.
So far, Centennial Life has not disclosed its solvency report for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2023, and its last two comprehensive risk ratings have been rated C. As a result, China Bond Credit and United Credit terminated the credit ratings of Centennial Life and "19 Centennial Life" in December 2023.
In the June 2023 rating report of China Bond Credit, it was pointed out that during the tracking period, the non-performing and concerned categories of investment assets of Centennial Life were relatively large, and the provision for impairment was insufficient, the solvency adequacy ratio level was close to the regulatory red line, the real solvency weakened significantly, the pressure on future capital replenishment was greater, the financial flexibility was very poor, and the overall debt policy performance was poor.
Source: Canned Gallery
In February this year, Centennial Life also decided not to exercise the "19 Centennial Life" redemption option.
"19 Centennial Life" is a capital supplementary bond issued by Centennial Life on March 29, 2019, with a scale of 2 billion yuan. The bonds are issued at an interest rate of 6.25% with a maturity of 10 years, and the issuer has the right to choose early redemption at the end of the fifth year. After the non-exercise of the redemption option, the interest rate of the unredeemed part of the bond will be adjusted to 7.25%.
However, in May this year, Dalian state-owned assets have extended a helping hand to Centennial Life, bringing a positive signal for the insurance company to get out of the predicament.
3
Dalian state-owned assets,
Centennial Life is about to get out of trouble
On May 8, Centennial Life successfully increased its capital by 110 million yuan, with an additional share ratio of 1.39%; At the same time, Dalian Rongda Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dalian Rongda"), the second largest shareholder of Centennial Life, transferred 800 million shares of Centennial Life to Dalian State-owned Financial Capital Operation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dalian Jinyun") free of charge.
As a result, the shareholding structure of Centennial Life was reshuffled. Dalian Jinyun holds 11.51% of the shares of Centennial Life Insurance and has become the largest shareholder; Dalian Wanda, the former largest shareholder, retreated to second place.
According to public information, Dalian Jinyun is a professional platform for the investment, operation and management of municipal state-owned financial capital, which was officially unveiled on August 18, 2022.
It is understood that on the day of the unveiling, Dalian Jinyun signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Postal Savings Bank, Dalian Branch of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Bank of Dalian and Dalian Rural Commercial Bank, and 10 banking institutions provided about 14 billion yuan of credit support.
Source: Canned Gallery
In fact, before the Dalian state-owned assets with a strong background made a move, Centennial Life also played a set of self-help "combination punches".
On the one hand, Centennial Life has reduced its holdings in a number of listed companies to withdraw funds.
According to Wanfeng Aowei (002085. SZ) announced that from April 24 to April 29, Centennial Life reduced its holdings of 9 million shares of Wanfeng Aowei at an average price of 14.88 yuan per share, with a reduction ratio of 0.42% and a cash amount of about 134 million yuan.
As of the first quarter of 2023, Centennial Life's long-term equity investment shares, including Jiaze New Energy (601619. SZ) and Macalline (601828.SH, 1528.HK).
Source: Centennial Life Solvency Report
On November 2, 2018, according to the announcement issued by Jiaze New Energy, due to the completion of the liquidation and cancellation of Ningxia Kexinyuan Mining Investment Co., Ltd., Centennial Life allocated 98,305,900 shares of Jiaze New Energy, with a shareholding ratio of 5.0857%. As of the first quarter of 2024, the number of shares held by Centennial Life in Jiaze New Energy has not changed, but the shareholding ratio has decreased to 4.04%.
According to Macalline's 2023 annual report, Centennial Life's products have withdrawn from the top ten shareholders of Macalline, and at the end of the period, its ordinary account, credit account holdings and refinancing loans have not yet returned 12,544,600 shares.
In addition, from January 31 to April 30, as the holding of Victory Precision (002426. SZ) shareholders with a shareholding ratio of more than 5%, Centennial Life reduced its holdings of the company's shares by centralized bidding by no more than 4.02 million shares, with an average price of 1.71 yuan per share. The reduction of shares was acquired through a non-public offering in 2016 due to the asset allocation needs of Centennial Life and related investment decisions.
Source: Canned Gallery
On the other hand, there are personnel adjustments.
In February 2021, He Yongsheng, the former chairman of Centennial Life, announced his resignation, and at that time, the "21 Financial Circle" under the "21st Century Business Herald" reported that Liu Zhaohui, the "veteran" of Dalian Wanda, served as the chairman, but his qualifications have not been approved. In the 2022 annual report of Centennial Life, Liu Zhaohui is an executive director.
On November 1, 2023, the Dalian Supervision Bureau of the State Administration of Financial Supervision disclosed an announcement approving the qualifications of Wang Xinhao as chairman and director of Centennial Life.
Wang Xinhao came from the banking industry and served as the general manager of the asset management department, the general manager of the customer manager department and the general manager of the corporate banking department of the Dalian branch of Everbright Bank. At the age of 33, Wang Xinhao joined Shanghai Pudong Development Bank until January 2023, when Wang Xinhao, as vice president and chief financial officer of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, resigned due to organizational transfer.
One month after Wang Xinhao became the chairman, Centennial Life reviewed and approved the "Proposal on the Company's Capital Increase and Share Expansion and Change of Registered Capital Plan" at the fourth extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in 2023.
Source: Canned Gallery
On June 3, at the celebration of the 15th anniversary of Centennial Life, Wang Xinhao said that the increase in state-owned assets will help the company stabilize its operation and sustainable development, and the company will fully grasp the development opportunity and open a new chapter in value transformation.
In addition, Centennial Life has opened 20 provincial-level branches, with a total of 379 branches at all levels, and its total assets have exceeded 250 billion yuan by the end of 2023. According to Wang Xinhao, Centennial Life has formulated a five-year strategic plan for 2024-2028, launched the "Start-up Project" with "eight major business system construction + four major foundation repairs" as the core, and 17 sub-projects will be fully implemented in 2028.
Now, with Dai Wenhao being approved as the general manager, the "generals" of Centennial Life have been matched. Do you think the insurer can turn things around? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.