The chairman of KUKA Home was under investigation for insider trading
Source:Sina Home
Chairman KUKA was investigated on suspicion of insider trading.
On the evening of December 24, KUKA Home made an announcement and received a notice from Chairman Gu Jiangsheng that day. Gu Jiangsheng received the China Securities Regulatory Commission's "Investigation Notice" on the same day that he was filed for investigation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Securities Law for suspected insider trading.
As of the closing on the 24th, KUKA Home reported 74.06 yuan per share, with the latest market value as high as 46.84 billion yuan. In Friday morning trading, KUKA Home opened 9.99% down to 66.66 yuan, only 1 cent away from the lower limit price, the call auction transaction amount was as high as 130 million yuan.
KUKA Home said that this investigation is a personal investigation of Gu Jiangsheng, mainly related to the transaction of Sleemon stocks through the secondary market during the acquisition of Sleemon Furniture Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Sleemon) from 2018 to 2019.
”Mr. Gu will fully cooperate with the CSRC’s investigation and fulfill his disclosure obligations in a timely manner. The investigation will not affect Mr. Gu’s normal duties at the company and will not adversely affect the company’s existing day-to-day operations and management activities, ” the statement said.
On October 15,2018, KUKA Home disclosed a letter of intent to transfer its shares, stating that KUKA Home or its designated holding subsidiary intends to use cash, to not less than 15.20 yuan per share, the total price not less than 1.38 billion Yuan Hua Yi Investment Holding Sleemon not less than 23% of the shares. Upon completion of the transaction, KUKA Home will hold no less than 23% of the shares of Sleemon, becoming the largest shareholder of Sleemon.
At that time, KUKA Home was facing the bottleneck of slowing performance growth. In the first three quarters of 2018, the company's operating income growth rate and net profit growth rate fell by 35.29% and 43.67% year-on-year respectively. As a result, KUKA Home has begun to make large-scale acquisitions. If it can win the domestic mattress industry leading company, KUKA Home will make up for a product shortcoming and promote the big home strategy. Sleemon suffered a substantial loss of more than 400 million yuan in 2018, and its net profit attributable to its parent dropped 255% year-on-year. Holding hands with KUKA Home also seems to bring a turn for the company's operations.
But this acquisition was not realized in the end. On April 14, 2019, the two companies announced again that the 6-month period expires and the "Letter of Intent for Equity Transfer" signed by Sleemon's controlling shareholder Shaoxing HuaYi Investment and KUKA will automatically terminate.
The real reasons for the termination of the transfer have not been disclosed by the two sides, but insiders believe that as of April 12, the closing price of Sleemon is 12.98 yuan. If more than 90 million Sleemon shares are acquired at a price of not less than 15.20 yuan per share, KUKA Home will suffer a paper loss of about 200 million yuan.
On April 12, 2019, KUKA Home and its subsidiaries intend to directly invest 310 million yuan to participate in the Tianfeng Securities Asset Management Plan to invest in HuaYi Investment. After the debt-to-equity swap, KUKA Home may become the controlling shareholder of Sleemon. This move has also attracted attention from the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Finally, on June 30, 2019, Sleemon issued an announcement stating that HuaYi Investment or its designated party intends to transfer the entire share of HuaYi Exchangeable Corporate Bonds, and KUKA Home will fully subscribe for 1.215 billion yuan. At the same time, KUKA Home stated that it has no intention of obtaining a controlling stake in Sleemon.
A year later, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has intervened in an investigation. Many details of the purchase of Sleemon by KUKA Home may be further disclosed, and the truth of Gu Jiangsheng's suspected insider trading may surface.