Every reporter Wang Haiqian, Li Na, every editor Xiao Ruidong
Recently, Zhejiang Ruifengda Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ruifengda) has attracted wide attention from the market. Different from other private equity "thunder explosion" events in recent years, one of the major concerns of the Ruifengda event is its use of the new third board market.
Although private equity investment in NEEQ itself is not against the rules, from the perspective of many insiders, there is a greater possibility of malicious high position takeover and cash out through "rat positions" from the way Refonda operates on NEEQ stocks. In addition, in the opinion of some insiders, due to the poor liquidity of NEEQ, it is not appropriate to use the market price method to calculate the net value of private fund products based on the closing price.
As for the warning effect of this event, a public fund manager said in an interview with the Daily Economic News that investors should not be blinded by high returns in the market lacking liquidity, and "I believe there will be corresponding policies to prevent such events in the future".
High volume of multiple shares held on the same day
Public information shows that many of Ruifengda's products have appeared among the ten major shareholders of many new three board listed companies, such as Sairongxin, Youlian Shengye, Agribusiness Technology, Bangkele, Weifuji, Hejia Tianjian, Haotian Energy Storage, etc. Among them, a number of listed stocks have recently seen significant high volume, such as Sairongxin, Hejia Tianjian, Farmer Technology, etc., and these companies concentrated their volume on May 7 before the incident. For example, on May 7, the trading volume of SIRongXin reached 128700, the trading volume was 103 million yuan, the corresponding average trading price was 80 yuan/share, and the highest price of the stock on that day was 80 yuan/share. According to the announcement of SIRONGXIN on May 8, two products of Ruifengda and Jiangsu Ruizhu bought 845000 shares of SIRONGXIN through competitive trading on May 7. It can be inferred that many products of Refonda and its related parties bought SIRongXin in large quantities at a high price of 80 yuan/share on May 7.
Analysts on the NEEQ pointed out to the reporter of the Daily Economic News that the turnover of individual shares listed on the NEEQ exceeded 100 million in one day. Except for the share transfer of some state-owned enterprises, "I rarely remember such a situation".
A similar phenomenon also occurred in Hejia Tianjian and Agribusiness Technology. On the same day of May 7, the transaction amount with Jiatianjian and Agro craftsman Technology reached 43.84 million yuan and 32.06 million yuan respectively, both of which are historic.
In addition, the current listing prices of these stocks are at historic highs. Since the second half of 2023, the stock prices of Sairongxin, Hejia Tianjian, Agribusiness Technology and Weifuji have all risen dramatically. Among them, the share price of Agribusiness Technology rose from 0.14 yuan/share to 60 yuan/share, and the share price of Sairongxin rose from 0.2 yuan/share to 50 yuan/share.
For investors of Refonda, although the sharp rise of individual stocks in product positions helps to boost their net worth, it may just be "paper wealth". For example, Weifuji's 2023 annual report shows that by the end of 2023, many products under Ruifengda, such as Ruifengda Shirui No.1, Ruifengda Ruixue No.2 and Ruifeng Darijin No.2, have appeared in the company's top ten shareholders at the same time; In addition, Jiangsu Ruizhu, who often follows the trend of Ruifengda, has many of its products at the same time appeared as the top ten shareholders of Weifuji. In the second half of 2023, Weifuji's share price soared by 8287%. According to Choice data, by the end of 2023, many products of Ruifengda and Jiangsu Ruizhu had a total reference market value of 447 million yuan in Weifuji. However, since the middle of November 2023, Weifuji has not had any transaction record in the secondary market, and the company has lost money for two consecutive years. In 2023, the operating income will only be more than 300000 yuan. Under such circumstances, it is not easy for Ruifengda's products to sell their chips in the secondary market at a high price.
This operation is suspicious
In the view of the above NEEQ analysts, Ruifengda's approach is somewhat similar to the early illegal operation of private placement. "In the early days, because there was no trustee, private equity institutions could raise some minority stocks by means of reverse, and then achieve rapid growth in net worth, thus making LP's source of funds become legitimate. And the past industry chaos has also promoted the gradual tightening and standardization of private equity fund supervision."
It is worth noting that in the nearly one year before the high volume of the above-mentioned NEEQ individual stocks, there were signs of collecting chips at low positions on the market. For example, Sairongxin was listed on the NEEQ in November 2015, and there were few deals in the following years. Until the second half of 2023, the situation will change significantly, and the number of trading days with transaction records will increase significantly. According to the statistics of Choice, in the third quarter of 2023, SIRONGXIN has sold 4 million shares in total, and the average transaction price is only 0.18 yuan per share. In the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first and second quarters of 2024, 952000 shares, 425000 shares and 2.22 million shares were respectively traded, and the average transaction price also rose quarter by quarter.
In the opinion of the above NEEQ analysts, generally speaking, companies listed on the NEEQ have the consideration of listing on the board. By raising the share price, they can control the number of shareholders, or make fixed increases, or cooperate with the transfer of old shares at a high price. "But for an enterprise like Sairongxin, it (Ruifengda) dares to buy this company at such a high price, unless it wants to buy this company, but obviously it may not. It obviously wants to lose money."
"For example, if I want to run away, I will use your account to buy some shares of SIRONGXIN when it is low. After we buy them, we will face each other. Suppose that the cost of your shares is 20 million or 30 million yuan, and then you sell me 100 million yuan, the money in our company's account will be transferred to you. As long as we prove that there is no relationship between us, this is an effective transaction. Then you can find another way to return the money to me. " The above person continued to analyze.
The analyst further said: "Formal private equity institutions generally do not buy in such a large proportion and on a large scale. Even if they do, most of them should buy in the way of fixed growth. Few of them buy in such a large proportion directly in the secondary market, which is particularly rare. In addition to fixed growth, even large transactions are rare. Such a direct and substantial increase in holdings in the secondary market, unless it is to buy the company and control a "shell", but now private equity institutions can not control the "shell" of the NEEQ, but also disclose quarterly reports and cannot raise funds, so the motivation for private equity institutions to acquire the NEEQ "shell" does not exist. " In addition, as for the phenomenon of several new three board stocks invested by Ruifengda on May 7, it may be planned by him.
In the opinion of a NEEQ researcher, "there are two possibilities for private placement to buy such NEEQ stocks with poor liquidity. One is that there are some big bull loose investments with their own money under the cloak of private placement, but even the real investment behavior will not buy at a high price, unless it is negotiated by both sides. Another is that if the money is raised, it is suspected of being a dealer or accepting offers maliciously. " As for the trading tactics of Ruifengda, he said: "It (Ruifengda) first looks for some companies on the third board that are not very active in trading and have no tradable shares. It is possible to collect some low price chips in the early stage, and after that, because the third board can 'shake hands' (there are many types of transactions on the third board, of which' shake hands' do not need to be matched) Then he may find a 'rat warehouse' to buy some at a low price and then raise the price for trading. " However, he believes that the core problem of this Ruifengda event is still the management of Sunshine Private Equity. "It does not choose the New Third Board, but can also choose other kinds of point-to-point trading. This kind of point-to-point trading seems to wear the cloak of legality, but in fact it is illegal."
Lack of liquidity in the new third board market
From the fact that many investors came to the site of Ruifengda Company to protect their rights on May 10, its product strategy really played a "willing hook" effect.
On May 10, a reporter from the Daily Economic News found that many professional institutions, such as some private FOFs, fell into the "net worth trap" of Refonda in the on-site investigation of its Shanghai headquarters. In the office building where Ruifengda is located, the reporter met a private FOF person who is also the victim of this Ruifengda road running incident. "When I went to the police to report the case, I saw that many reporters had registered." She told the reporter that her company had invested in many products named "Ruifengda Innovation No.1", mainly because the net value of Ruifengda's products in the past was good, which exceeded many other similar equity products. In addition, before that, Ruifengda bought some bull shares of the science and technology innovation board. Unexpectedly, there was a fraud in it. She said that she was not very aware of such frauds of cashing out using the NEEQ as a tool. "We have heard before that they (Ruifengda) have a new three board strategy, but compared with public funds, it is more difficult to track the specific positions of private funds."
Due to poor liquidity, it is often seen in the NEEQ market that some small purchases or sales can cause the company's share price to fluctuate significantly. For example, with a little money, you can move the closing price of an inactive NEEQ individual stock. If the market price method is still used to calculate the net value of private equity fund products based on the closing price of companies listed on the NEEQ, it is obviously not convincing in the eyes of many investment researchers, and the net value is also suspected to be false.
"If the proportion of NEEQ shares in the product position is very high, and the market price method is used for valuation, the net value of the product will lack authenticity and be meaningless. This is also the key point that many securities traders ask Ruifengda to provide materials when they go to make due diligence, and they probably know it. As far as I know, the stock concentration of this company's products is still high. " A private equity fund told reporters.
A public offering fund official told the reporter: "This situation is impossible in the A share market with good liquidity, and the lack of liquidity in the NEEQ market is one of the important factors."
According to an investment researcher of a public fund, in general, if it is an inactive target, you can use valuation techniques to adjust the price for valuation. There are many valuation techniques, such as PE PB， As well as industry comparison method, cash discount and transaction volume weighting, depending on the situation of each company.
"Although valuation techniques can be used for inactive subject matter, this is often used when there are suspended shares in the position. When a stock in the position is suspended, it also needs to have a price, and this price is estimated, usually to underestimate it, but the proportion of suspended shares must not be high, which is limited." The aforesaid mutual fund manager further stated.
A public offering fund related person also told the reporter: "The company stipulates that NEEQ stocks cannot be included in the investment scope."
The aforementioned public fund manager further pointed out that investors should be more cautious about the market lacking liquidity and not be blinded by high returns. "This Ruifengda incident has attracted great attention, because it is very hidden and difficult to find. I believe there will also be corresponding policies to prevent such incidents from happening again."
Editor in charge: Liu Debin
