Whose Mingshi invests?
Ten billion private equity has staged a power seizure battle and also exposed an illegal equity holding agreement
The battle to seize power of Shanghai Mingshi Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Mingshi Investment"), a tens of billions of quantitative private equity, has intensified.
On October 13, Mingshi Investment and its founder Yuan Yu issued three statements within one day: First, Yuan Yu disclosed that he was in a control dispute with Li Shuo, the largest shareholder of Mingshi Investment, and then Mingshi Investment stated that Li Shuo was the one. The actual controller, Yuan Yu later revealed that Li Shuo was holding 50% of the shares on his behalf.
Yuan Yu also revealed that he had recently encountered Li Shuojiu gathering social idlers to prevent him from entering Mingshi's office by violence and personal threats, and maliciously invaded Mingshi's official seal, hindering his normal operation and management of Mingshi.
Who is the actual controller of Mingshi Investment?
Why is there an equity holding agreement?
What's the secret behind this battle for power?
The Red Star Capital Bureau found that from the apparent equity structure, Li Shuo ultimately held 53.5% of Mingshi Investment's shares and was the actual controller; Yuan Yu held 23.37% of the shares.
And if Yuan Yu revealed that the equity holding agreement is true, then Yuan Yu may become the actual controller.
On October 14, the Red Star Capital Bureau called Mingshi Investment, and the relevant staff said: "We have issued a statement on the official account and will update it in time if there is new information." As for the dispute between Yuan Yu and Li Shuo, Mingshi Stone Investment and its investors did not respond to any impact.
Private equity tycoon reveals that the two sides of the power seizure battle have their own words
In the past two days, Mingshi Investment has staged a battle to seize power, detonating the private equity circle.
The matter should start from the early morning of October 13th. There was a statement in the private equity circle that was suspected to be the founder of Mingshi Investment, Yuan Yu, revealing that he and Mingshi Investment's largest shareholder Li Shuo had a dispute over the control of the company.
The statement mentioned that Yuan Yu was relieved of his position in the company and the management of the strategy team by Li Shuo. Yuan Yu used the word "shocked" to describe this.
Yuan Yu also said that the above behavior has directly triggered the "key person clause", and Mingshi Investment may face a large number of redemptions in the future.
This statement sparked heated discussions in the market. Some people familiar with the matter said that the sudden dismissal of the position might be the fuse of Yuan Yu's statement.
On the evening of October 13, Mingshi Investment issued a statement on its WeChat official account, stating that "Since its establishment, it has been controlled by a single major shareholder Li Shuo who holds more than 50% of the shares, and the shareholding structure is stable and clear." "Yuan Yu is in the Strategic Technology Department During the management process, there were measures that were not conducive to the long-term development of the company, and the board of directors decided to suspend the position of the head of Yuan Yu's strategy and technology department."
Mingshi Investment also emphasized: "Do not rely on one or two core figures for strategic research and development, and dilute the influence of the core figures in the overall investment strategy", "Suspend the company's product purchases on the 14th, and the redemption will not be affected."
People familiar with the matter said that this may be to reduce the impact of the control dispute between Yuan Yu and Li Shuo and stabilize investor confidence.
Just after Mingshi Investment released the explanation, Yuan Yu had a new move here.
According to a report from the Shanghai Securities News, industry insiders revealed that on the evening of October 13, Yuan Yu once again issued a "Notice to All Employees", stating that "Yuan Yu is the actual controller of Mingshi, and Li Shuo’s 50% equity interest in Mingshi All are on behalf of" the blockbuster news.
Yuan Yu also posted an "Equity Holding Agreement" signed by Shanghai Songmeng Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Songmeng Investment") and Li Shuo, with the date of signing on January 16, 2017.
Yuan Yu also revealed that he had recently encountered Li Shuojiu gathering social idlers to prevent him from entering Mingshi's office by violence and personal threats, and maliciously invaded Mingshi's official seal, hindering his normal operation and management of Mingshi.
Rights dispute exposes equity holding agreement
Violating practices or facing the risk of liquidation
It can be seen that the control of Mingshi Investment is the key point in the dispute between the two parties, so who is the actual controller of Mingshi Investment, Li Shuo and Yuan Yu?
Why is there an equity holding agreement?
What's the secret behind this battle for power?
According to Tianyancha APP, Mingshi Investment has 4 shareholders, of which Li Shuo holds 50% of the shares and is the largest shareholder; Shanghai Songmeng Investment mentioned by Yuan Yu holds 35% and is the second largest shareholder; Wang Yang holds Shares are 10%, Zhou Sheng holds 5%.
Through further equity penetration, it can be seen that the suspected actual controlling shareholder of Shanghai Songmeng Investment Management is Yuan Yu, the subscription amount is 7.25 million yuan, and the shareholding ratio is 72.5%; Li Shuo’s subscription amount is 1 million yuan, The shareholding ratio is 10%.
In this way, from the surface, Li Shuo ultimately holds 53.5% of Mingshi Investment's shares, which is the actual controller; and Yuan Yu holds 23.37% of the shares.
If the "Equity Holding Agreement" held by Yuan Yu is true, then Mingshi Investment's shareholding ratio will change, and Yuan Yu may become the actual controller.
But why does Shanghai Songmeng Investment Association and Li Shuo sign an "Equity Holding Agreement"?
The Red Star Capital Bureau looked through the agreement and found that in the delegation authority column, Li Shuohui replaced Shanghai Songmeng Investment to be named on the register of shareholders, registered with the industrial and commercial authority, participated in activities as a shareholder, received dividends or bonuses on behalf of, attended the shareholders meeting and exercised voting rights and many more.
It also agreed on the confidentiality obligations of both parties, but did not explain the reason for the entrustment.
After Yuan Yu’s statement was issued, Liang Hong, chairman of Shiva Investment, the founder of another tens of billions of private equity, also posted via social media that Li Shuo held 50% of Mingshi shares for Yuan Yu.
Some market voices said that Yuan Yu claimed that the "Equity Holding Agreement" is tantamount to "suicidal behavior", which has a huge impact on Mingshi's investment and may even face the risk of liquidation.
In early 2021, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Regulations on Strengthening the Supervision of Private Equity Investment Funds", in which Article 5 clearly stated that: private equity fund managers must not have contributors, revolving capital contributions, cross-contributions, excessive levels, complex structures, etc. Circumstances, it is not allowed to conceal the association relationship or make the association relationship unrelated.
On October 14, the Red Star Capital Bureau called Mingshi Investment, and the relevant staff said: "We have issued a statement on the official account and will update it in time if there is new information." As for the dispute between Yuan Yu and Li Shuo, Mingshi What was the impact of Shi, but the other party did not reply.
Up to now, Li Shuo himself has not made any statement.
Yuan and Li are members of the start-up team
Mingshi's official website no longer sees Yuan Yu's name
Mingshi Investment is quite influential in the private equity circle.
The Red Star Capital Bureau noted that private equity ranking data shows that as of September 1 this year, Mingshi Investment's rate of return is as high as 39.88%, ranking first among 20 tens of billions of quantitative private equity.
According to data from the China Association of Fund Industry, Mingshi Investment currently has 213 funds under management.
And Yuan Yu is one of the big cows recognized in the quantitative circle.
According to the public resume, Yuan Yu was a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, a professor at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, and a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States. His main research areas are asset pricing, behavioral finance, and international finance. It is about behavioral finance and asset errors in China. A leader in pricing research.
In 2010, he founded Mingshi Investment.
Another key figure, Li Shuo, was appointed representative of Wuxi Aoxin Investment Enterprise (Limited Partnership) before entering Mingshi Investment, executive director and general manager of Jilin CITIC Overseas Service, executive director of Jilin Weixin Employment Information Consulting Service, Manager of the Overseas Study Service Center of Jilin International Language and Culture College.
In addition, according to media reports, in the early days of Mingshi's establishment, Li Shuo was mainly responsible for marketing, operation, and operations, while Yuan Yu was mainly responsible for strategy development.
It can be seen that Yuan and Li are both members of Mingshi's start-up team. The division of labor between the two has always been relatively clear, and they did not publicly report the news of their discord until the recent power struggle broke out.
The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that on October 14, Mingshi Investment’s official website had lost the personal introduction of Yuan Yu, but replaced it with Wang Xiaohan.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News Reporter Yu Yaoqiang Yaxian