Recently, a new media released news that Minsheng Bank closed down 2.73% on July 25, second only to Qilu Bank's -3.38% in bank stocks. According to Flush iFinD data, from the perspective of capital flow, in the net outflow of main funds on the 25th, Minsheng Bank ranked first in bank stocks with a net outflow of 313 million yuan.
In response to the stock price change, Minsheng Bank said in its reply to some investors that the company had no abnormalities in operation and performance, and there was no information that should be disclosed but was not disclosed.
On the news side, the stock price change of Minsheng Bank may be closely related to the company's large transactions.
On the evening of July 24, Minsheng Bank had a total of 18 large transactions, with a total transaction amount of about 678 million yuan, and the number of shares traded was about 195 million shares, with transaction prices ranging from 3.4 yuan/share to 3.62 yuan/share. From the point of view of the transaction price, the discount range from the closing price is 1% to 7%, and according to the discount rate of the block transaction, even if it is sold at the current price, the receiver is still profitable. And the selling seats are all "Minsheng Securities Co., Ltd. Beijing First Branch".
A relevant person from the investor relations department of Minsheng Securities said that in response, "We have seen that the business department of Minsheng Securities is selling, but it is not clear which shareholder it is." ”
Who is selling 18 block trades? Oceanwide Holdings' stake in Minsheng Bank has become the focus of suspicion, and market rumors suggest that these large transactions may be related to Oceanwide Holdings' disposal of its equity interest in Minsheng Bank. However, people close to Minsheng Bank said that at present, the bank does not have the relevant information, and although the trading institution knows the information of the buyer and seller, the regulatory regulations need to delay the disclosure, so it is impossible to confirm whether it is related to Oceanwide Group.
As of the first quarterly report, Oceanwide Holdings held 1.8 billion shares of Minsheng Bank, and Wind Information data shows that almost all of the company's shares are in a pledged state.
It is worth noting that there were 8 more such large transactions on July 25, with a total of 140 million shares, a total turnover of 474 million yuan, and an average transaction price of 3.39 yuan per share, a discount of 4.78% from the market closing price of 3.56 yuan, of which the highest transaction price was 3.5 yuan, the lowest transaction price was 3.38 yuan, and the selling seats were all "Minsheng Securities Co., Ltd. Beijing First Branch".
According to the analysis of relevant reports in the past, the legal dispute between Minsheng Bank and Oceanwide Holdings has been escalating for a long time. As early as October last year, Minsheng Bank announced a judgment of the Beijing Financial Court that Wuhan Central Business District Co., Ltd. should repay the loan principal of 3.046 billion yuan to the Beijing branch of Minsheng Bank, as well as the corresponding interest, overdue penalty interest and compound interest; Oceanwide Holdings and Lu Zhiqiang shall be jointly and severally liable for the guarantee.
On May 11 this year, Minsheng Bank announced that the Beijing branch collected debts from the company's sixth largest shareholder, Oceanwide Group, as well as Oceanwide Holdings and Lu Zhiqiang, requesting that Oceanwide Group and other companies be ordered to repay the loan principal and corresponding interest totaling more than 5.466 billion yuan.
In fact, Minsheng Bank has a deep relationship with Oceanwide. Lu Zhiqiang, the actual controller of Oceanwide Group, is also one of the early initiators of Minsheng Bank, and is still the vice chairman of Minsheng Bank, and has just received a salary of 932,500 yuan in 2023. In June this year, the board of supervisors of Minsheng Bank evaluated Lu Zhiqiang of Oceanwide Group as "basically competent", and Lu Zhiqiang lost his seat on the board of directors in the subsequent shareholders' meeting.
Oceanwide Holdings' 2023 annual report and financial statements for the first quarter of 2024 show that its asset-liability ratios are 130.47% and 132.86%, respectively, both exceeding 90%, triggering the investor protection mechanism. According to the annual report, Oceanwide borrowed as much as 18.726 billion yuan from Minsheng Bank. Judging from the current situation of Oceanwide Holdings, it is still unknown whether it will be able to repay its debts, and when will the hole left for Minsheng Bank be filled?
Minsheng Bank's pit is not limited to Oceanwide Holdings. Some time ago, Oriental Group, one of the shareholders of Minsheng Bank, issued 17 announcements intensively, including receiving a notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to file a case, some shares of major shareholders were forcibly liquidated, and the creditor applied for reorganization because 752,000 yuan could not be repaid.
According to the annual report, the balance of Minsheng Bank's loans from Oriental Group will reach 9.599 billion yuan in 2023. As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, Oriental Group held 1.28 billion A shares of Minsheng Bank, ranking the tenth largest shareholder, and its 1.268 billion shares were pledged, but according to the announcement on June 22, 23 million of these shares were forcibly liquidated by CITIC Securities.
At the shareholders' meeting of Minsheng Bank on June 26, an investor asked, "Oriental Group has also had liquidity problems recently, how much impact will it have on the asset quality of Minsheng Bank?" Huang Hongri, vice president of Minsheng Bank, replied, "The related credit of Oriental Group was also disclosed in our annual report last year, and the balance of Oriental Group's loans in Minsheng Bank in the annual report was more than 90 billion yuan. At the same time, Gao Yingxin, chairman of Minsheng Bank, added that the bank's current loans to the "Oriental Department" have dropped to more than 7 billion yuan.
In addition, the 1.38 billion shares of Minsheng Bank held by Shanghai Jiante, the eighth largest shareholder, are also 100% pledged, and the 1.28 billion shares held by the tenth largest shareholder, Dongfang Group, which has had abnormal events, also has a pledge rate of 99%. As for whether there is a situation involving shareholder pledge liquidation, is there any shareholder reduction in violation of regulations? A relevant person from the investor relations department of Minsheng Securities said that it is not clear for the time being, and he is still understanding the situation and has not learned about the relevant information.
Roughly calculated, Oceanwide plus Oriental Group has dug at least a big pit of 25.726 billion yuan for Minsheng Bank.
In addition to these two, Minsheng Bank has carried out strategic cooperation with 18 real estate companies for so many years, according to a list of Evergrande debts exposed online, as of the first half of 2020, the debt owed to Minsheng Bank is as high as 29.3 billion yuan, ranking first among 86 financial institutions. It is unknown when these holes will be filled.
Source: Screenshot of China Evergrande's 2020 annual report
In terms of performance, Minsheng Bank will achieve revenue of 140.817 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 1.16%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company will be 35.823 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.57%.
As of the first quarter of 2024, the company achieved revenue of 34.273 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.80%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 13.431 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.63%; deducted non-net profit of 13.453 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.75%; Net cash flow from operating activities was -127.366 billion yuan, compared to 225.971 billion yuan in the same period of 2023.
However, from a fundamental point of view, the asset quality of Minsheng Bank is gradually stabilizing and improving. Although revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company decreased year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, the non-performing loan ratio continued to decline, and the provision coverage ratio also remained stable. A number of research institutions also recognized the improvement of Minsheng Bank's asset quality, believing that the bank has achieved remarkable results in optimizing the risk management mechanism and adjusting the pace and structure of credit delivery.
Moreover, since the first quarter of this year, Minsheng Bank has carried out intensive personnel adjustments, such as the resignation of Zheng Wanchun, vice chairman and president, and Yuan Guijun, executive director and vice president, and the appointment of Mr. Wang Xiaoyong as president of Minsheng Bank, and the appointment of Zhang Juntong and Huang Hongri as vice presidents. In addition to the top management, Minsheng Bank also has middle-level personnel changes, involving multiple departments of the head office.
What are the first steps for the new leadership team? Whether Minsheng Bank can stop its decline may be able to wait for the release of the semi-annual report.
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