Author: Zhao Limin
Editor: Yang Fan
in time for the "double-October" big promotion spree Shopping Festival approaching, China Auto Rental Lu Zhengyao finally sold hand, the new "disk access Man" Department of well-known PE firms MBK Partners (MBK ) Subsidiaries, with deep background and strong strength.
On November 10, China Rent-A-Car issued an inside information announcement stating that the seller of China-Ucar and Indigo Glamour Company Limited (Indigo Glamour) had signed a sale and purchase agreement on November 10, 2020. Indigo Glamour offered China-U. The vehicle seller acquired 442,656,855 shares of the company at a total consideration of HK$1,770,627,420.0. The delivery period between the two parties is no later than December 10, 2020.
According to China UCAR’s asset sale announcement, after the completion of the transaction, the company will no longer hold shares in China Car Rental, and the proceeds from the transfer will be used first to repay the company’s corresponding China Car Rental pledge loan. According to reports, MBK was established in March 2005 and is one of the largest private equity groups in North Asia, with assets under management of more than 22 billion US dollars.
Intuitively, Lu Zhengyao seems to have found a pretty good home for Shenzhou Car Rental, but his future destiny is still murky.
1
China Car Rental’s "Black 2020"
China Car Rental announced on the 10th that in addition to announcing the signing of a sale and purchase agreement with Indigo Glamour, it also mentioned that the previous sale and purchase agreement with Jinggangshan Beiqi failed to complete the transaction before the final delivery day, and has terminated its relationship with Jinggangshan. BAIC’s sale and purchase agreement. In less than half a year, China Rent-A-Car has tried no less than three times to "sell one's body", but the results all failed without exception. According to public information from
, Lu Zhengyao founded China Car Rental Co., Ltd. in September 2007 and was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September 2014 with a financing amount of HK$3.6 billion. After years of development, it has become a leading car rental service provider in China. As of now, according to incomplete statistics, China Car Rental has approximately 2,600 service outlets in nearly 300 cities in China, and it is currently China’s largest national large-scale car chain Leasing companies.
Since April of this year, China Rent-A-Car has been caught in the "selling" storm. Ctrip and Geely Group have appeared in companies with the intention to take over, but these rumors have been denied by the person in charge of the company. Follow-up announcements were also issued to refute the rumors.
turned to April 16, when the Shenzhou car rental officer announced a new buyer. According to reports, the company’s main shareholder, Amber Gem Holdings Limited (Amber Gem), will acquire the shares of China Car Rental from China UCAR’s wholly-owned subsidiary in two batches. Later, according to China Car Rental’s June 1 announcement, the company’s main Shareholders Amber Gem and China UCAR entered into a termination agreement on May 30.
is the same, a similar plot happens again. On July 2, China Rent-A-Car announced that it had received a notice from its shareholder China UCAR and signed a takeover offer with SAIC Motor Hong Kong Investment Co., Ltd. (SAIC Hong Kong). However, on July 20, China Rent-A-Car announced again that China UCAR and SAIC Motor Hong Kong signed a termination agreement and announced on the same day that UCAR had signed a sale and purchase agreement with Jiangxi Jinggangshan BAIC Investment Management Co., Ltd. (Jinggangshan BAIC).
However, as of late August, some media reported that MBK was coordinating the negotiation of the proposed privatization of China Car Rental, but it was subsequently denied by China Car Rental in a clarification announcement. After going around, has been favored by MBK companies until recently, and the two parties then signed a sale and purchase agreement.
Looking at this road of "selling one's body" that took more than half a year, for Lu Zhengyao, the Shenzhou rental car, which has been sold four times before and after, may have become the "black moonlight" over his head. One of the keywords of 2020 is "the hardest to sell". As Lu Zhengyao’s effort to cultivate, Shenzhou Rent-a-Car, why is it so "reluctant to part with love"?
2
Why is "Sweet Potato" "Hot"?
once had such an outstanding performance in China Car Rental, it stands to reasonHe said that he should be held in the palm of his hand by Lu Zhengyao, but now he has become an "abandoned son", which is embarrassing. From the “sweet and pastry” that is so popular with thousands of people, to the “hot potato” that people fear to avoid. In fact, the reason for forcing Lu Zhengyao to let go of car rental in Shenzhou starts from the beginning of the decline.
First of all, the decline in 's revenue performance is the most intuitive manifestation of the decline of China Car Rental. Relevant data from show that since 2016, China Car Rental has slowed down its performance and revenue growth. By 2019, its net profit has been declining for three consecutive years. The net profit in 2019 was only 31 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 89.3%. What's more unfavorable for
is that has been affected by the epidemic this year, and China's car rental business has suffered a greater impact. According to the interim report released by , as of June 30, the total rental revenue was 1.807 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) , A year-on-year decrease of 37.2% from 2.877 billion yuan in 2019; an adjusted net loss of 1.387 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 498.1%.
In addition, Lu Zhengyao’s "Human Vehicle Ecosystem" operation model of the Shenzhou system is a double-edged sword. Under this model, the Shenzhou system has formed a complete industrial chain covering the entire life cycle of the automobile, bringing obvious market competition to it. Advantages; but from another perspective, the frequent affiliated transactions of the Shenzhou department's internal enterprises, the "ecosphere" inevitably has "self-talking" suspicion, and it is also quite criticized by the outside world.
And this year's Ruixing Coffee financial fraud incident pushed Shenzhou UCAR and Shenzhou Car Rental to the forefront of public opinion. Affected by this, the company's stock price fell sharply. Coupled with the adverse impact of the epidemic, the company's revenue capacity dropped sharply. Soon, Lu Zhengyao began to look for a pick-up party for Shenzhou Car Rental. As a relatively high-quality asset of the Shenzhou department, Lu Zhengyao resolutely chose to divest it. There was mixed praise and criticism from the outside world. Some observers believed that this move was to save the car rental in Shenzhou, "reluctant to cut love", and some think it is self-protection. Arm Survival".
According to a report from Radar Finance and Economics, some investors have previously analyzed that, "Lu Zhengyao himself must be aware of the seriousness of Ruixing’s fraud, and he is eager to sell the car rental in China. The pressure on his own debt may be one reason, but it is more likely that it is. I want to isolate the property to avoid the effect of fraud on this part of the property. "Z2z
, after the latest acquisition of Indigo Glamour in China Rent-A-Car, is a "renowned family" in the investment field, can it stabilize the domestic car rental market as the "leading throne" ", it is still unknown, we still need to wait and see the changes.
3
"Throne" doesn't seem to sit well?
But objectively speaking, whether China Rent-A-Car can take the lead in the domestic car rental market depends on multiple factors. Before everything is settled, the future is still full of countless possibilities.
First of all, from the perspective of China Car Rental itself, has undoubtedly suffered a series of blows this year. However, as a leading company in the domestic car rental market, China Car Rental’s own strength is likely to be underestimated under various rumors. , A set of data can explain. According to the data from
China Car Rental's 2020 mid-year report, during the reporting period, the company's average daily car rental fleet increased by 4.2% year-on-year; free cash flow was 1.932 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 329.0% compared to 2019's 450 million yuan. Since China entered the normalization stage of epidemic prevention and control, China Car Rental's performance losses in the second quarter have gradually narrowed. According to Fast Technology, even if it has been affected a lot, as of June 30, the total size of China Car Rental’s fleet was 132,221. It is still the largest domestic car rental brand.
Secondly, from the perspective of the new target Indigo Glamour, the announcement shows that Indigo Glamour is an offshore company registered in the Cayman Islands and is wholly-owned by MBK Partners Fund IV. MBK Partners mainly focuses on investments in three core markets, including China, Japan and South Korea. In recent years, MBK's deployment in the travel field has become more frequent. In its investment in the car rental service market, it has successively tested the waters of China's second largest car rental company, eHi Car Rental, and South Korea's largest car rental company KT Rental Company. The relevant person in charge of
MBK once told the media that the experience of investing in eHi's car rental helped them better understand the Chinese car rental market and broader transportation needs. and soFor those who are interested in the Chinese car rental market, it is reasonable for them to focus on car rental in China. If the two parties successfully complete the transaction in the future, they will get a certain blessing for car rental in China.
However, it needs to be clearly pointed out that the domestic car rental market has undergone considerable changes after this year's development. After the "baptism" of the epidemic, the domestic car rental market has ushered in a favorable development situation. In the post-epidemic era, motorhome trips and short-distance self-driving tours have become dark horse players in the travel industry. According to the "China Self-Driving Car Rental Industry Research Report 2020" released by iResearch, the development of 's domestic car rental industry is showing multiple positives, and the market scale in 2021 It is expected to reach 77 billion yuan. Liu Binggang, general manager of the tourism business group of Yinjian International Tourism Group, said to Wenlv: “According to the internal exchanges of the group, the self-driving rental market is not bad this year. Because of the epidemic, everyone is more concerned about self-safety protection. Now the self-driving car rental business has the highest rental rate. More than 90%. And the epidemic is only temporary. We are very optimistic about the future development of the car rental market."
However, although the domestic car rental market is in a good period of rising, the market competition environment in which China Car Rental is located is not optimistic. In addition to the strong strength, In addition to eHi's car rental, it is facing pressure from the rapid expansion of various giants. Take Ctrip Car Rental as an example. According to recent official Ctrip data, from November 1 to November 11, 2020, Ctrip Car Rental has booked 57,600 cars in a single day, a year-on-year increase of 470%, and new users over 63%. At the same time, China Rent-A-Car is still running for the "selling" issue.
On the whole, although the new target has already appeared, the situation of "halfway" has occurred many times before. Therefore, it is not yet possible to predict whether China Car Rental can successfully complete this transaction. This also adds to the future of China Car Rental. More uncertain factors. As for how the next trend will develop, Wenlv will remain concerned.
