Alibaba may acquire Tsinghua Unigroup for 50 billion yuan

Recently, the news that Ziguang Group has been filed for bankruptcy and reorganization by creditors has aroused the attention of the whole network. Many investors also expressed concern about the future direction of other related companies of Tsinghua Unigroup.

In response, on July 10, the two listed companies of Ziguang Group, Ziguang Group and Ziguang Guowei, responded to the announcement. In addition, Ziguang Zhanrui, which plans to IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, issued a statement yesterday in response.

Subsequently, there was news in the industry that Alibaba may acquire the equity of Ziguang shares held by Ziguang Group for 50 billion yuan.

Ziguang Group filed for bankruptcy reorganization

Ziguang Group announced on July 9 that Ziguang Group received the "Notice" served by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on the same day. The main content is: Relevant creditors believe that Ziguang Group cannot pay off due debts and the assets are insufficient to pay off. All debts and obvious lack of solvency, with the reorganization value and feasibility of reorganization, apply to the court for bankruptcy reorganization of Ziguang Group. Tsinghua Unigroup will fully cooperate with the court in judicial review in accordance with the law, actively promote the resolution of debt risks, and support the court in safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of creditors in accordance with the law.

As early as the end of last year, Ziguang Group was exposed to a serious debt default.

On October 29, 2020, Ziguang Group announced that it would not redeem the "15 Ziguang PPN006" perpetual bonds.

On November 10, Tsinghua Unigroup disclosed that it was unable to repay 1 billion yuan of loans, and confirmed on the 16th of the same month that it failed to redeem 1.3 billion yuan of bonds, which constituted a substantial debt default.

Since December 10, Ziguang Group has announced that it is unable to repay the principal and interest of the US$450 million debt, and its subsidiary Ziguang Xinsheng also stated that the default may lead to a cross-default of the US dollar bonds issued by it.

On February 3, 2021, Ziguang Xinsheng announced that it could not repay the principal and interest of the US$1.05 billion debt due in 2021, totaling US$1.072 billion; 200 million U.S. dollars in debt, also unable to continue to pay interest.

According to foreign media reports, in order to ensure the rights and interests of creditors, Citibank has submitted a petition to the court on February 4, 2021, requiring Ziguang Group and Ziguang Xinsheng to pay off the principal and interest of the US$200 million debt.

According to the latest announcement, as of April 26, 2021, the overdue debt of Ziguang Group was 7.018 billion yuan, the overdue debt of its wholly-owned subsidiary Ziguang Communication was 1.063 billion yuan, and the principal and interest of the overdue US dollar debt of its wholly-owned subsidiary Ziguang International Holdings Co., Ltd. A total of 463 million US dollars (about 3 billion yuan), the wholly-owned subsidiary Tsinghua Unigroup overdue US dollar debt principal and interest totaled 1.099 billion US dollars (about 7.12 billion yuan).

Up to now, the total overdue debt of Ziguang Group and its subsidiaries has reached 18.201 billion yuan.

It is rumored that Ali will spend 50 billion yuan to acquire the equity of Tsinghua Unigroup held by Tsinghua Unigroup

As we all know, the chip industry is an industry with huge investment, long cycle and slow results. In recent years, Tsinghua Unigroup has also invested heavily in the chip field. Not only has it acquired Spreadtrum, RDA, and H3C, but it has also invested heavily in the construction of Yangtze River Storage, and it has also acquired the French micro-connector company Linxens. Data show that Tsinghua Unigroup's related M&A investment exceeds 100 billion yuan. In particular, Yangtze River Storage is still in the investment period and requires huge and continuous capital investment. In addition, Liansheng, which was previously acquired for 2.2 billion euros, was not merged into Ziguang Guowei, which further aggravated Ziguang Group's debt problem.

Data show that as of June 2020, the total debt of Tsinghua Unigroup has reached 202.9 billion yuan, an increase of about 44 times compared to the end of 2012. Among them, more than half are current liabilities, and short-term loans and non-current liabilities due within one year total 79.428 billion yuan.

Up to now, the total overdue debt of Ziguang Group and its subsidiaries has reached 18.201 billion yuan. Moreover, under the chain reaction of the existing large-scale debt default and capital chain breakage, if it cannot be solved in time, more debts will default in the future, and Ziguang Group will face bankruptcy completely.

Faced with such a huge debt crisis, Ziguang Group may have to sell some of its high-quality assets before it can be resolved.

Today, according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, Tsinghua Unigroup is seeking to sell a 46.45% stake in Tsinghua Unigroup due to huge debt problems.

At present, Ali and several government-backed companies are considering buying the shares of Tsinghua Unigroup held by Tsinghua Unigroup, and the bid may be 40 billion to 50 billion yuan. In addition to Ali, potential bidders include Wuxi Industrial Development Group, a subsidiary of the Wuxi Municipal Government, as well as Beijing Electronics Holdings and Beijing Jianguang Assets.

If Alibaba submits a binding bid by the July 20 deadline, it will partner with a local government-owned company to acquire Tsinghua Unigroup's stake in Tsinghua University, two people familiar with the matter said. However, they did not disclose the name of this potential partner.