During the period of Everbright, Chen Shuang led the acquisition and listing of CALC throughout the entire process, which made CALC's actual control rights ambiguous. After he left Everbright Group, he used the state-owned platform to establish a "Greater Bay Area Fund" and established Shenwan Capital. , but privatized it behind the scenes.
On the afternoon of July 26, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and State Supervision Commission issued a notice saying that Chen Shuang, the former secretary of the party committee and chief executive of China Everbright Holdings Co., Ltd. .
According to a person close to Chen Shuang, "Chen Shuang was still active in Hong Kong half a month ago. Later, I heard that he was going back to Beijing, but I didn't expect to be checked, very suddenly."
Earlier on the evening of July 19, Guangkong issued a profit warning saying that it expected a net profit loss of about HK$2.6 billion to HK$2.8 billion in the first half of 2022, compared with a profit of about HK$1.81 billion in the same period last year.
The main reason for the loss is that among the private equity investment projects held by the Group during this period, the equity investment that has been listed but not yet withdrawn and the secondary market fund investment recorded an unrealized net loss of approximately HK$2.5 billion due to the expected drop in market prices. .
The first financial reporter learned from people close to Everbright that Chen Shuang's investigation was not unrelated to the company's loss.
During his tenure at Everbright, Chen Shuang led the acquisition and listing of CALC throughout the entire process, which made CALC's actual control rights ambiguous. After resigning from Everbright Group, he used a state-owned platform to establish a "Greater Bay Area Fund" and established Shenwan Capital. , and finally privatized it, which may also be one of the reasons for its investigation.
According to Tianyancha, Chen Shuang also serves as the legal representative of Everbright Financial Leasing (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Information from the Hong Kong Company Registry shows that Chen Shuang has a Hong Kong ID card.
Gentry Bay Capital Mystery
In May 2019, Chen Shuang resigned as executive director and CEO of Everbright Holdings.
It was only after two years that he was investigated. "They all thought he left the system and landed safely." A person close to Chen Shuang told reporters.
According to public reports, in April 2019, Chen Shuang began to prepare for the "Greater Bay Area Fund".
At a similar time, the Greater Bay Area Shenwan Capital Co., Ltd. (APlus Partners Limited, hereinafter referred to as "APlus Partners") was established in Hong Kong.
Everbright may have played a bridge role in the establishment of Shenwan Capital.
According to the information of the Hong Kong company registry, Shenwan Capital was established on April 24, 2019. The founder is China Everbright Holdings (Secretary) Co., Ltd., and the three founding directors are Chen Shuang, China Everbright Holdings CFO Deng Zijun, and Chief Risk Officer. Officer Zeng Ruichang.
The registered capital of the company is HK$1.
Only 1 month after its establishment, the company's equity was transferred from China Everbright Holdings (Secretary) Co., Ltd. to a Greater Bay Area Capital Co., Ltd. with the same name in Chinese, whose English name is displayed as APlus Partners (BVI) Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Shenwan"). Capital BVI”), an offshore company registered in the Virgin Islands.
After leaving Everbright, Chen Shuang appeared in public again on September 11, 2019. At that time, Chen Shuang attended a large-scale forum speech as the CEO and President of CIMC Capital Holdings Co., Ltd.
In November 2019, Chen Shuang introduced in public that the preparatory work for CIMC Capital, a new platform for funds in the Greater Bay Area, has been completed, and overseas CIMC Capital International (Shenwan Capital) is still under construction.
At that time, Chen Shuang predicted that in the future, the new platform will be based in the Greater Bay Area, focusing on industrial funds, including cold chain logistics, clean energy, modular buildings and other series of fund products will be launched one after another.
However, CIMC Capital International may be just a springboard like China Everbright.
The information inquired by the Hong Kong company registry shows that on September 2019, Chen Shuang transferred the equity of a Hong Kong company owned by himself to China International Marine Containers (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CIMC Hong Kong"). The company name is also It was then changed to CIMC Capital (International) Co., Ltd.
Six months later, CIMC Hong Kong transferred the company's equity to Shenwan Capital BVI.
As a result, the company name was changed to Apus Partners management Co., Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Shenwan Capital Management Company").
At present, the director of the company is also served by Chen Shuang, which is a registered company of HK$1.
During the period when CIMC Hong Kong was a short-term shareholder, Chen Shuang worked at CIMC Capital.
According to Tianyancha, Chen Shuang served as the general manager and director of CIMC Capital Holdings. He served in October 2019 and resigned in November 2020.
In addition, the reporter inquired from the Hong Kong company registry that there are at least five companies and funds with a name similar to APLus Parnters, with Chen Shuang serving as a director, and companies and funds suspected of belonging to the APLus: APLus Capital Management Co., Ltd., Shenwan Capital Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Shenwan Capital Assets), Shenwan Capital Asset Management M&A Co., Ltd., Shenwan Capital Co., Ltd., APlus Partners HK GP Limited (no Chinese name).
Among them, the largest registered capital is Shenwan Capital Assets, which changed its name to its current name in August 2020.
Before that, the company name was Dragon Bull Asset Management Limited.
The registered share capital of Shenwan Capital Assets is 1.6 million shares, which are wholly-owned by a company called STAR MOON Limited.
And Xingyue Co., Ltd. is also a company registered in the Virgin Islands.
Shenwan family map
According to people familiar with the matter, Chen Shuang's investigation may be related to the privatization of Shenwan Capital.
The reporter found that Shenwan Capital does not have an official website.
The introduction of Shenwan Capital by Tianyancha system shows that Shenwan Capital was established in 2019. It is an investment company based in Hong Kong and focusing on cross-border investment and asset management business.
According to previous media reports, Shenwan Capital’s shareholders include Sequoia Capital China and IDG Capital, and in January 2021, Sun Jianfeng, the former deputy CEO of CLSA, and others were hired.
According to public information, Shenwan Capital invested in the B+ round of Accelerator Technology, the first phase of the B+ round of Keyue Medicine, and the B round of Simou Technology.
Shenwan Capital was established in 2019, but its profile in Tianyancha also shows that the company has had more than 10 years of performance.
According to the relevant introduction, in the past 10 years, the management scale of Shenwan Capital has increased from 3.1 billion Hong Kong dollars to 145.4 billion Hong Kong dollars, creating a net profit of nearly 35 billion Hong Kong dollars for shareholders.
However, Shenwan Capital has only been established for more than two years, which has many contradictions with its 10-year performance.
In addition, Chen Shuang is also the legal representative and 95% shareholder of Shanghai Shenwan Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Shenwan").
According to the information disclosed by the China Foundation Association, the management scale of Shanghai Shenwan is 0-500 million yuan, and the last information update time is May 19, 2022.
Chen Shuang and China Aircraft Leasing
Another person familiar with the matter revealed that Chen Shuang's acquisition and listing of China Aircraft Leasing (hereinafter referred to as "CALC"), an important project traded by China Everbright, may also be related to the investigation.
According to information on the website of the State Supervision Commission of the Central Jiwang, Chen Shuang had been the executive director and chief executive officer of China Everbright as early as August 2007.
From March 2018 to April 2019, while holding the above-mentioned positions, he also served as the party secretary of the company. As of his resignation in April 2019, he has been in charge of Everbright for 12 years.
When Chen Shuang was in charge of Everbright, he acquired a 48% stake in China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited (01848.HK) in 2011, and led China Aircraft Leasing to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2014, becoming the first company in Asia Listed aircraft lessor, and another child for Everbright Group to expand the territory of listed companies.
After the acquisition, Chen Shuang served as the CEO of Everbright Holdings and the chairman of the board of directors of CALC.
It was not until May 2019 that Chen Shuang resigned.
The founder of CALC is Pan Haowen.
According to public information, Pan Haowen is an investment manager with rich experience in hedging models and portfolio investment. He established Friedmann Pacific Asset Management Limited (Friedmann Pacific Asset Management Limited, hereinafter referred to as "Friedmann Pacific Assets") in 2000.
In 2006, Futai Assets established CALC, which was the first independent aircraft lessor in China that year.
In 2011, China Everbright Holdings acquired part of the shares of CALC.
Before going public in 2014, China Everbright Holdings held a 40% stake in CALC, China Aerospace Investment Holdings Co., Ltd. held an 8% stake, and Pan Haowen and his family held the rest.
Everbright Holdings did not disclose the price of the above-mentioned equity interest in CALC, but disclosed in its 2011 annual report that it acquired 48% of CALC in June of that year.
As the two major shareholders of CALC, Guangkong and Futai Assets, as well as Chen Shuang, the chairman of the board of directors, and Pan Haowen, the chief executive officer, have been walking side by side.
In 2014, China Aircraft Leasing, jointly helmed by Chen Shuang and Pan Haowen, ordered 100 Airbus planes with a value of US$10.2 billion, accounting for more than half of the number of planes ordered by Chinese lessors that year.
One of the costs of expansion is the rapid rise in leverage.
The 2014 annual report showed that the company's asset-liability ratio had reached 90% at that time.
Nevertheless, in April 2016, China Everbright and Futai Assets jointly acquired Tirana International Airport, the most important transportation hub in Albania.
As an important partner of Chen Shuang, Pan Haowen was once involved in a corruption case.
In June 2015, Pan Haowen was once assisted in the investigation of the high-level corruption case of China Southern Airlines. At that time, Pan resigned as the CEO of CALC, and Chen Shuang took the position. In January 2017, Pan Haowen resumed the position of CALC CEO.
Everbright Holdings and Pan Haowen's family are the first and second largest shareholders of CALC respectively.
The 2021 annual report shows that the shares controlled by Everbright Holdings are 37.91%, and the shares controlled by Pan Haowen and his wife are 29.77%, which are relatively close.
Pan's wife Wu Yiling also holds important positions in the projects invested by CALC.
Among Chinese-funded institutions in Hong Kong, there has been a lot of speculation about the actual controller of CALC.
According to people familiar with the matter, Pan Haowen and executive director and deputy chief executive Liu Wanting are the actual operators of CALC.
"But Chen Shuang is the controller behind the scenes. Recently, Pan Haowen intends to leave CALC, and they are planning to sell (shares)."
In December 2020, Everbright Holdings launched a special fund, with Everbright as the fund sponsor and subscribers from unrelated third-party financial institutions, and completed the issuance of US$200 million of privately-held perpetual bonds.
The characteristics of perpetual bonds, real shares and named bonds, make CALC's actual control rights more confusing.
(Author: Jimei)