In mid-to-late January 2002, a private equity fund from the United States continued to buy Chinese concept stocks.
This behavior started when NetEase resumed trading. Due to Nasdaq regulations, it will send a letter to the listed company for every 1% it purchases after reaching the 5% trading line.
In this way, NetEase will receive a letter notification from the GA Fund every few days, and the time is extremely regular.
If it weren’t for NetEase’s chairman Ding Lei’s firm control of the company’s equity, with his personal shareholding exceeding 50%, it would almost make people suspect that this private equity firm was planning to launch a hostile takeover of NetEase.
After Mi GA Fund issued a letter announcing that it held 8.05% of NetEase's shares, the original notification pattern that NetEase employees were accustomed to was suddenly broken, and no letter was sent again for several days.
Ding Lei has been speculating every day since the resumption of trading on January 2, asking about the situation of private equity funds. He still feels uncomfortable with the sudden lack of movement.
However, a phone call from a colleague made him understand the situation. He was a fan of GA Fund and turned to buy Sohu!
Ding Lei felt quite subtle in his heart.
Subsequently, he contacted Sina, which was also listed on Nasdaq, and learned that the latter had not issued a letter following the GA Fund, and there was no major trading activity in the secondary market. He felt inexplicably calm again.
Of the three major Chinese portals that were both listed in 2000, Mi GA first bought NetEase, then Sohu, and finally I don’t know if it will touch Sina, but looking at this sequence, you will know who this private equity fund with strange behavior is most optimistic about!
Although NetEase has the lowest market value at this time, just over 20 million U.S. dollars, its peers are not much better. Sohu has a market value of 30 million U.S. dollars, and Sina has a market value of 40 million U.S. dollars... Moreover, Ding Lei has strong confidence in his own company.
NetEase’s share price before Nasdaq was suspended was US$0.68, but the company’s cash flow was US$60 million.
In other words, even if you spend 20 million US dollars to completely buy NetEase and then immediately liquidate and go bankrupt, you can still make a lot of money.
How could NetEase’s stock price be so low?
Ding Lei is very confident, he must get at least 6.8 US dollars.
Soon, because of the same lack of understanding of Mi GA Fund, Sohu communicated with Ding Lei after receiving the first proposal to hold 5% of the shares.
Zhang Chaoyang of Sohu is as firmly in control of his company as Ding Lei. He is not afraid of transactions in the secondary trading market. He is just particularly puzzled and curious. What is the purpose of this sudden fund?
Sending a letter is just a notification. When I contacted him, I only received a very perfunctory answer, and there was no mention of adding directors to the board of directors...
Speaking of whether people are optimistic about the development of their own company, they didn’t contact them to inquire before buying stocks.
All in all, it’s just weird, weird, weird.
For this fan GA fund, Zhang Chaoyang made a special appointment to have dinner with Ding Lei.
The two of them didn’t exactly talk about private equity during the meal, but also exchanged views on the current industry situation.
Just as the meal was coming to an end, Ding Lei received a call from Sina.
“What? Your trading volume has increased significantly today? Is anyone buying?”
Ding Lei was shocked. He knew it was the GA private equity fund without even thinking about it.
The timeline is very clear. I started buying NetEase on January 2nd. When I bought close to 9% of the shares, I turned around to buy Sohu. Sohu bought 6%, and finally belatedly took action on Sina.
“It’s too funny.” Zhang Chaoyang had the same judgment as Ding Lei, but he suddenly felt very funny.
Ding Lei sighed: "It's too mysterious."
Yes, a U.S. fund that has been buying too much and has almost lost contact is really too mysterious.
“Perhaps, it doesn’t just buy our stocks? Maybe it buys on multiple lines, but we don’t know about other markets.” Zhang Chaoyang put forward a new guess.
“It’s also possible.” Ding Lei agreed.
He wiped his hands and joked: "Look at the buying choices of these fans. They are most optimistic about our NetEase. I can't live up to this trust."
Zhang Chaoyang laughed loudly, saying that he was not at the bottom, so it was okay.
…
New York, Hilton Hotel.
Fang Zhuo listened to Kong Yu’s stage summary.
“As of now, we hold 10.2% of NetEase’s shares, and the purchase cost is US$3.48 million.”
“Holding 6.7% of Sohu, the cost is US$3.05 million.”
“Because Sina’s stock price was slightly higher, we bought 5.4% of the shares for US$3 million, which just crossed the threshold. We already sent a letter to Sina yesterday.”
Hong Yu said: “These three stocks cost a total of US$9.53 million, and we have US$470,000 left on our books.”
He looked at the distracted boss at the conference table and couldn't help but said: "Mr. Fang, it seems that there is no more operation to be done with this 470,000 US dollars. The subprime CDO and CDS combination that I talked about with the Li family before..."
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Fang Zhuo came back to his senses and had only one feeling in his heart: it was too cheap.
Just in this month's operation, Mi GA Fund has become one of the top ten shareholders of the three major domestic portals. It is really easy to be eligible to request additional director seats on their boards of directors.
Hong Yu nodded, hesitated for a while, thinking that he had secretly bought stocks, and asked: "Mr. Fang, these three companies have contacted GA. Do we want to give you any reply?"
“Let’s just say that we are very optimistic about China’s development and their future market value growth.” Fang Zhuo replied.
Hong Yu asked again: "Mr. Fang, are you so optimistic about their stock price?"
Fang Zhuo nodded and said, "Yes."
“What if their stock price doesn’t rise?” Kong Yu asked with his expression unchanged but uneasy in his heart.
Fang Zhuo said calmly: "That means I was wrong."
Hong Yu: “…”
He suppressed the huge shock in his heart and asked as calmly as possible: "What about the Li family?"
"These three companies will not be delisted. How far can they fall if they continue to fall?" Fang Zhuo spread his hands and said, "Nasdaq delisted for a long time at US$1, and our purchase cost is only a little more than US$1 on average. What are we afraid of?
?”
Hong Yu: “…”
What the boss said makes sense, but... when the boss's small loss falls on an individual, it's like a mountain collapses, and he's going to jump off the building!
Kong Yu's face finally couldn't help but change. When he first bought NetEase, he bought some. Later, when he saw the boss's very firm attitude and ordered him to buy more, he ruthlessly invested more.
“Mr. Kong, what’s wrong? You don’t look good? Don’t worry, it won’t hurt me if the Li family loses a little money.” Fang Zhuo said cheerfully.
Kong Yu reluctantly responded, saying that buying stocks privately cannot be brought to light.
"Speaking of which, I originally didn't want to buy Sina. Their management was too shaken." Fang Zhuo, who didn't know the general in front of him, laughed and said, "But I couldn't bear it. They were too cheap. Hey, I couldn't resist the temptation."
.”
Hong Yu nodded in agreement and considered whether to sell the stocks he bought.
"I don't know if Wang Zhidong's Sina shares have been sold or not. In terms of prospects, Sina should not be able to compare with the other two in the short to medium term. Its equity is too scattered and the factions are chaotic." Fang Zhuo took the recent operation list of the GA Fund and said,
He commented casually, "If NetEase is owned by Ding Lei, Sohu is owned by Zhang Chaoyang, then Sina is owned by Wu..."
Kong Yu was distracted and didn't pay attention to the boss's words.
Fang Zhuo put down the information in his hand and gently finished his unfinished evaluation: "Then Sina is a terra incognita."
He was shocked by his own evaluation, Hey, a land without one? Then why can't the surname be Fang?
Sina’s founder Wang Zhidong was expelled, its own equity was dispersed, and its management was in turmoil.
Fang Zhuo murmured to himself: "Qin lost its deer, and the whole world chased it away."
If you have Sina, an already influential brand, the entry point into the era of online social networking will be logical, and subsequent mobile Internet or multi-dimensional alliances will be easy.
The problem is that I don’t have the funds now. Even if I do have the funds to make acquisitions in the secondary trading market, I will face counterattack from Sina’s management and shareholders.
One year, Shanda's Chen Tianqiao wanted to take over Sina in a hostile manner. The management of Sina at that time launched a "poison pill plan" to make Chen Tianqiao fail, and the latter had no choice but to sell his shares.
This "poison pill plan" used to counter hostile takeovers is still quite unsolvable.
“Mr. Kong, tomorrow you will send a letter to Sina, requesting that we add a board seat for us at the next shareholders’ meeting.” Fang Zhuo didn’t clarify his thoughts for a while, but he knew what the key to controlling a company was.
“Huh?” Kong Yu had been worrying about his money just now, but when he came to his senses, he realized that his boss had changed his mind.
Fang Zhuo repeated the order.
“Why?” Kong Yu asked, “What about the other two companies? Should NetEase and Sohu make this request?”
Fang Zhuo shook his head. The equity ecology of those two companies was completely different from that of Sina.
He thought for a moment and said, "I thought of a story about a snake swallowing an elephant. I think we can try it."
Kong Yu was surprised. He felt that he understood what Mr. Fang meant, but at the same time he thought it was fantastic.
Shen Tunxiang, the word Snake Tunxiang is preceded by "greedy and insufficient".
Greedy is like a snake swallowing an elephant, Mr. Fang, your name is greed!
"Okay, I will send a letter to Sina tomorrow, telling them that the board of directors will add director seats, saying that our fund intends to hold it for a long time, and then all foreigners will show up in the past. Sina's board of directors is likely to face an American fund.
Pass the vote." Kong Yu had a plan in an instant.
Fang Zhuo felt that this person was a bit impatient and smiled: "I'm just exploring a possibility. Although the book funds of the Mi GA Fund are almost used up, we need to pay more attention to the U.S. subprime mortgage portfolio market. Prepare first, then fight."
.”
Kong Yu nodded, thinking that "prepare first, fight later" was not only talking about subprime mortgages, but also talking about Sina.
For a whole month, MIGA Private Equity Fund has spent all its budget. The next time can only be to hold and lurk to see what effect this wave of investment in three Chinese concept stocks will bring.
On February 1, Fang Zhuo’s attention completely returned to Yike P1. However, just when he was checking the US channel sales summary, Li Xinyue, the Li family’s contact person, called to inquire about the fund’s investment status.
“Oh, the vote has been completed.” Fang Zhuo gave the other party an answer.
Li Xinyue on the other end was obviously stunned. After a while, he asked in disbelief: "What? Mr. Fang? Are you kidding me? Ten million US dollars have already been invested? This is ten million!"
"What do you think private equity funds are like?" Fang Zhuo actually looked down on this kind of gang. "It's only ten million US dollars."
Li Xinyue was speechless at such a loud tone. Somehow, ever since she met Mr. Fang, she had some doubts about life. She did not mention the trip to the mainland. The ten million US dollars sounded different from the thousand US dollars.
Seems like.
“Mr. Li can wait until maturity to collect the money. Mr. Li is also welcome to introduce friends to invest money.” Fang Zhuo said calmly and ended the call.
If it weren't for the relatively grass-roots private equity team, he wouldn't cooperate with the Li family like this. However, in terms of profit distribution, the Li family is easily persuaded. It's like the bastard is looking at the mung bean - they are right.
At present, the Mi GA Fund has two clients. He and the Li family each contribute 5 million. The profit distribution is to leave 30% to the fund first, and the remaining 70% to the two clients each sharing 50%. However, because the Li family has more
Like low risk, they exchanged 15% for a guaranteed minimum commitment of one million dollars.
In other words, if the principal loss of 10 million U.S. dollars reaches 7 million U.S. dollars, the position will be automatically liquidated. If the loss of 3 million U.S. dollars is 50% each, the family will lose 1.5 million. Because the Li family has a separate agreement, they will lose a maximum of 150-100=
$500,000.
If it is profitable, Fang Zhuo will get 30%+0.7*(0.5+0.15)=75.5%, and the Li family will get 24.5%. If the profit of 24.5% is less than 1 million, it will be made up and distributed.
Both parties are actually quite satisfied, but Li Xinyue was indeed caught off guard by the investment efficiency.
Fang Zhuo was not in the mood to appease the client who was caught off guard. Anyway, the contract had been signed in black and white. There was a high probability that the other party would make money from this matter, and he would naturally be happy in the future.
“Offline sales of M1 are obviously slowing down, but there is a slight increase on Amazon. Is the popularity of the bundled IPOD promotion a bit weak?”
“Sales by relying solely on Kroger, a large channel, are relatively stable, but accordingly we cannot speed up too much. Mr. Pan, we still have to think of a way.”
Fang Zhuo is not particularly satisfied with the sales of Yike M1 and the newly arrived J1.
Pan Benneng explained the slowdown: "Mr. Fang, because there is Christmas and New Year ahead, many consumers choose to use electronic products as gifts, so our sales have significantly increased."
He continued: "The pure Kroger channel, if the external situation does not change, according to everyone's estimates, can steadily provide sales of about 40,000 units every month."
40,000 units a month. In other words, this speed is basically enough to complete the 100,000 target of J1 next month. This is also the official negotiation point agreed with IDG America.
Fang Zhuo tried to make appointments with two American venture capital firms in late January, but neither of them showed much interest in hardware, which made him a little shaken.
Music management software iMu privately based on Windows operating system is being developed in China. The next progress must have a certain amount of funds and channels.
Because the online sharing of mp3 format music websites in the United States is gradually tightening, this observed situation is not good news for Yike.
“We still need to increase the promotion of J1. I think the Ipod now has a limited edition for singers, which is quite interesting.”
“But it’s not easy for us to learn this.”
“It’s been two months since Kroger launched M1 and J1. Why isn’t Walmart in a hurry? People don’t have it.”
Fang Zhuo has never forgotten the largest supermarket channel in the United States.
"Mr. Fang, if it doesn't work, let's just go with it. Mr. Xiong is also a good person. He may not consider holding a controlling stake at this time." Pan Ben is also considering the next development these days. Once he can accept IDG America's investment, funds and resources will be filled in.
"Wouldn't it be even scarier if we changed the 'time'?" Fang Zhuo complained, shaking his head, "Our team here has to hold a plenary meeting to summarize together and think about better development directions."
…
PS: Change first and then change.
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