Liu Jianni's CEO appointment was announced soon, and Lin Yi only served as chairman of Wanli Travel. This was the last major personnel adjustment before going public.
The company's IPO plan was also launched.
"As for the listing location, we have been discussing the United States since you proposed the goal of listing, because this is the only option in the developed capital market that meets our listing conditions."
"But at the end of last year, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced that it would accept listing applications from companies with different voting rights. In this way, the United States is not the only solution."
Lin Yi's current shareholding ratio in Wanli Travel is only about 13%, and he must rely on super voting rights to ensure control.
Therefore, different rights for the same shares are a must.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange was relatively conservative on this issue and was unwilling to change until it missed out on Factory A in 2014.
They were originally the first choice of Factory A, but they were pushed to the other side of the ocean because they couldn't adapt.
At that time, Lin Yi was in the United States looking for investors for Wanli Travel Worldwide, and he was under pressure from Factory A because of this incident.
At that time, the amount of funds raised in that IPO broke the historical record.
After that, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange learned from the experience and continued to tinker until 2017, finally announcing that it would accept companies with "different rights for the same shares" to be listed in Hong Kong starting from the end of April 2018.
Of course, there are certain thresholds for this, such as high-growth innovative industries and an estimated market value of more than 10 billion Hong Kong dollars. These thousands of miles of travel undoubtedly meet the requirements.
In other words, this new regulation is a backdoor specially opened for companies like Wanli Travel.
"Choose Hong Kong City."
Lin Yi did not hesitate at all. He had been waiting for this opportunity because he knew that going public in the United States would only lead to more and more troubles.
Liu Jianni originally wanted to introduce that going public in the United States and then returning to Hong Kong is also a choice of many large companies in the technology industry, but since Lin Yi was so determined, she said no more.
"The listing project team usually includes a large number of intermediaries. If you can only choose one most important sponsor, you must make the decision yourself."
"A sponsor is a role, and it does not refer to just one institution. It can be exclusive or jointly with multiple institutions."
"Given our size, it is not affordable to be exclusively sponsored by an investment bank, and it is not the best choice for the company."
"Regarding the selection of sponsors, going back a few years, the Hong Kong capital market was completely dominated by international investment banks."
"In recent years, with the continuous upsurge of mainland companies listing in Hong Kong and years of efforts within the industry, the rise of Chinese investment banks in Hong Kong is very significant."
"Only in terms of the number of sponsored IPO projects, Chinese investment banks have surpassed international investment banks, but this may not be true in terms of the amount."
"Because the more leading companies raise a larger amount during their IPO, the more they need to sell to global investors. In this regard, the sales capability advantage of international investment banks is still obvious."
"Based on the current situation of Wanli Travel, I suggest that we choose a Chinese investment bank and at least one foreign investment bank as joint sponsors."
Jenny Liu gave a very detailed explanation.
Based on her accumulation in the financial industry, her understanding of these matters is of course far better than Lin Yi's. The reason why she lets Lin Yi make the decision is to avoid suspicion.
The benefits here are huge.
Based on Wanli Travel's current valuation, the sponsorship and underwriting fees for this IPO project must be settled in units of "100 million U.S. dollars."
The financial industry is a typical "resource-based" industry, which means that this project can be done by anyone, and there are no technical obstacles.
To put it bluntly, Lin Yi can earn this money to whomever he likes, so good looks are also hard currency in the financial industry.
No matter male or female.
"Let's call for bids and call all qualified investment banks to see who has the lowest bid."
Lin Yi had no inclination towards this, so he chose the simplest approach. Liu Jianni expressed her understanding and continued to confirm:
"There is no need to choose an accounting firm. We originally used the Big Four, so the listing report will naturally be issued by them."
"Hong Kong City is called an auditor. Apart from this, do all other intermediaries also follow this approach?"
She originally thought that Lin Yi, the most important role of sponsor, had no requirements, so the rest would just go through the bidding process.
"I have a law firm that I need."
Although Liu Jiani was surprised, she still asked: "Domestic law firm or overseas law firm?"
Although securities lawyers are called lawyers, they can also be considered in the broad financial industry.
The trend of legal matters involved in financial supervision in various countries is becoming more and more complicated. This project requires the use of at least four law firms because Wanli Travel itself conducts business in the mainland and is listed in Hong Kong.
The company itself and the sponsor must hire a law firm domestically and overseas respectively. Of course, the sponsor's lawyer is also paid by the company.
If other jurisdictions are involved, you may need a law firm with local qualifications. Common ones include the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, which are internationally popular tax avoidance destinations.
"Domestic, Jun Wude Law Firm."
"The red circle is OK."
Liu Jianni didn't ask any further questions and directly suggested: "If you are familiar with the other party, then let them serve as the company's domestic lawyer."
Lin Yixiao said: "I'm familiar with them, but I'm not familiar with their team leader, I'm just familiar with a young lawyer with more than a year's experience."
He was talking about Zhang Jiaqi.
Gu Caiwei's best friend joined this law firm after graduating from college and became a securities lawyer.
This seems to be different from the direction of her practice in her previous life, but Lin Yi does not intend to delve into her mental journey.
Gu Caiwei told him this, and the meaning was obvious.
Since she can do it for everyone, it’s okay to take care of Zhang Jiaqi. Although she doesn’t need to draw business for the team due to her seniority, it will definitely be helpful to her career development.
After Liu Jiani implemented Lin Yi's requirements, all intermediaries were soon in place, and Wanli Travel's IPO coaching team was formally formed.
Interestingly, according to the working habits of investment banks, they have to give the project a name first.
This is due to confidentiality considerations. Especially when making calls outside, if you directly call it "Wanli Travel IPO Project", it will easily cause leakage.
This matter actually had nothing to do with the listing work itself, but the formal matter could be big or small, so Liu Jiani still reported it to Lin Yi.
He took a list of options from the investment bank and glanced at it. It was quite complete in both Chinese and English and looked decent.
However, Lin Yi didn't like it at all, so he thought on the spot: "Let's call him Kunpeng."
At this time, a young man from an investment bank next to him actually whispered to himself: "Kunpeng project, how do you translate it in English?"
As soon as she said the words, she realized that she seemed to be rash because she failed to control the volume and everyone heard her. Lin Yi did not blame her and even gave her a suggestion.
"If it's not easy to translate, just use pinyin. Don't get used to it."