China Fund News reporter Nan Shen
Last year's revenue exceeded 250 billion yuan, the grain and oil giant Arowana announced on the evening of August 1 that Wilmar Hong Kong, the controlling shareholder of the company with a shareholding ratio of nearly 90%, intends to "voluntarily extend the lock-up period of the company's restricted shares before the initial offering", and the extension period is one year, that is, until October 16, 2025. This is the second time Wilmar Hong Kong has voluntarily extended the lock-up period.
Arowana was listed on the GEM in October 2020, and its stock price quickly rose several times after listing, and it once sat in the position of "first brother in market capitalization" on the GEM. However, since February 2021, its stock price has started to fall continuously, and the current market value of Arowana has fallen by more than 80% from its peak. In mid-July, Arowana's share price broke for a time.
The controlling shareholder of Arowana has extended the lock-up period again
According to the announcement of Arowana, the company's controlling shareholder Wilmar Distribution (Hong Kong) Limited (Chinese: Wilmar Marketing (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., hereinafter referred to as Wilmar Hong Kong) issued the "Commitment on Voluntary Extension of Share Lock-up and Reduction". Based on its confidence in the future development prospects of Arowana and its high recognition of the company's value, Wilmar Hong Kong voluntarily extended the lock-up period of the company's pre-IPO restricted shares in order to further promote the sustainable and stable development of the company and safeguard the interests of investors.
According to the announcement, Wilmar Hong Kong currently holds 4.879 billion shares of Arowana, accounting for 89.99% of the company's total share capital. The original deadline for sale was October 16, 2024, but the restriction period was extended for 12 months, and the date of lifting the ban after the extension is October 16, 2025.
This is not the first time Wilmar Hong Kong has extended the lock-up period. On August 23, 2023, Arowana disclosed the "Announcement on the Voluntary Extension of the Lock-up Period of Restricted Shares by Controlling Shareholders", at which time Wilmar Hong Kong voluntarily added a lock-up period of restricted shares before the IPO, and the lock-up period was extended from October 16, 2023 to October 16, 2024.
Arowana was listed on the GEM on October 15, 2020, and suffered speculation in the early stage of listing, but the company's performance and stock price have continued to be under pressure since then. From 2021 to 2023, Arowana's net profit attributable to the parent company and net profit after deducting non-profits have declined for three consecutive years, and in the first quarter of 2024, it will grow by a low single digit.
Arowana's share price has also continued to adjust for three and a half years, and as of the close of trading on August 1, the company's latest market value was 145.7 billion yuan, a decrease of 81.5% from a high point.
It is worth mentioning that the share price of Arowana fell to a minimum of 25.38 yuan (post-compounding price) on July 10, and has fallen below the issue price (25.7 yuan). According to the latest shareholding reduction measures issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission in May this year, controlling shareholders are not allowed to reduce their holdings in the event of a stock price break. As of June 28, the company had 140,500 shareholders.
Since the beginning of this year, the controlling shareholders of 14 companies have voluntarily extended the lock-up period of restricted shares
The reporter noticed that since July last year, shareholders like Arowana have voluntarily extended the share lock-up period, most of which come from controlling shareholders, and a few are important shareholders and directors, supervisors and senior executives who hold more than 5% of the shares.
Since 2024 alone, 14 companies, including Sunshine Guojian, Fushite, Oufu Egg Industry, Li Tong Technology, Henghui Security, Southern Power Grid Energy Storage, Yingli Shares, Ailong Technology, Caida Securities, Suwen Electric Energy, Yishi Precision, Zhengyuan Dixin, Guoke Micro and Arowana, have issued announcements that the controlling shareholders have voluntarily extended the share lock-up period.
In addition, some directors of Fudan Microelectronics voluntarily extended the period of non-reduction of the company's shares, while CITIC Securities was an important shareholder of 6.28% - Guangzhou Yuexiu Capital and its subsidiaries voluntarily extended the lock-up period of shares.
Editor: Xiao Mo
Review: Xu Wen