Author | Zhou Chaochen
Last Friday (December 2) at noon, the rumor of Xu Jiayin jumping off the building went viral for a while, and it was searched several times. According to self-media statistics, this rumor has been reversed at least 5 times.
Although I don’t know if this rumor is someone deliberately pranking Xu Jiayin, or Xu Jiayin’s self-directed and self-played bitter trick, it’s always a false alarm.
Xu Jiayin’s rumor-refuting style made an appearance. First, a 50-second voice screenshot of Xu Jiayin in the senior management group of Evergrande Group was deliberately released after 1 pm that day. Xu Jiayin said in the senior management group: "The chairpeople of the companies in various regions should ask the brand sales departments to increase the publicity work of the vigorous scene of engineering construction, publicity and promotion, and to increase the publicity and promotion of the construction of the building. The construction of the building and the construction of the project are the key to our sales. Therefore, increasing the publicity and promotion of the sales and delivery of the building is an important foundation for the sales work. Please pay great attention to the publicity and promotion of this project construction and the construction of the building."
Immediately after 7:00 pm, Xu Jiayin appeared in Hengda Group’s special meeting on the construction of the building and the video leaked out. Xu Jiayin once again emphasized that the construction of the building is the top priority of Hengda. In the video with obvious signs of posing and lasting 1 minute, Xu Jiayin said: "From January to November this year, Hengda Group has achieved 256,000 sets of buildings. In 2022, it will strive to complete 300,000 sets of buildings. In December, it is necessary to ensure the quality assurance to complete the 44,000 sets of buildings. There are still 29 days left in this month. There is a tight time and a heavy task. All Hengda employees must unswervingly fulfill our main responsibility and never give up their efforts to ensure the completion of the annual delivery task."
Xu Jiayin knows that Baojiaolou is his only "life-saving straw" for political correctness at present.
Another rumor that appeared along with Xu Jiayin’s related rumors was that in order to reduce costs, the headquarters of Evergrande Automobile Group will be disbanded, and the staff structure of the headquarters will be adjusted. Most people face layoffs, and a small number of people will sink to the factory. According to the China Securities News, people close to Evergrande Automobile learned that the news was not true.
Between life and death, the relevant rumors about Xu Jiayin and Evergrande come at a very delicate moment. Since November, several ministries and commissions have launched three arrows in a row, 16 real estate finance policies and other favorable real estate policies, from saving projects to starting to rescue real estate enterprises, especially some high-quality real estate enterprises have recently been softened by credit. But these policies seem to have nothing to do with Evergrande. As the most indebted real estate enterprise, Evergrande, which has been lying in the ICU for more than a year, seems to be locked in a vacuum and has become an outsider of China’s real estate market rescue policy. Its only way out is to sell assets as cheaply as possible, while shouting that everyone is united to protect the property.
After the Securities Supervision Commission issued the third arrow at the end of November, Bai Wenxi, chief economist of IPG China, commented: "To say that the most aggrieved person today should be Xu Jiayin. The Securities Supervision Commission has finally released the equity financing of class A share real estate enterprises that has been suspended for ten years, but Evergrande has already missed it. Otherwise, Evergrande backdoor deep and deep housing will be implemented immediately, Xu Jiayin can sincerely say that’everything about Evergrande and me, Xu Jiayin, is given by the party ‘, and then continue to increase leverage to dry Evergrande’s real estate debt to 4 trillion, and then the land finance in various places can continue to increase income, and the property market will continue to be hot."
The policies of bailouts and blood transfusions here are one after another, and the news of Evergrande is a different story.
On the afternoon of November 30, Hengda Wealth announced that it would adjust the payment plan issued on December 31, 2021, adjusting the current monthly payment of 8,000 yuan per person to 2,000 yuan per person per month. Obviously, under the pressure of debt, the isolated Hengda capital chain is increasingly tight.
On November 26, Double 11 was put on the shelves of Hengda Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters land successfully transferred by Shenzhen Anhe No. 1 Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. at a reserve price of about 7.54 billion yuan. According to the media, there is a shadow of Vanke behind the receiver, so some industry insiders believe that Yu Liang helped Xu Jiayin. In fact, as early as last autumn, there were rumors that Vanke was in contact with Hengda, but in the media communication meeting in October last year, when asked if Vanke would rescue Evergrande, Vanke chairperson Yu Liang was vague: "When winter comes, everyone is cold. In the case of cold, we must first solve the problem of how to survive the winter, and first ensure our own safety, in order to save people. How can I save someone if I’m not safe? If I can’t get through the winter, helping others may be purely troublesome. "
After the acquisition of Evergrande’s Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters site, which is adjacent to Vanke’s new headquarters, the buyer was left wondering how to use the land that Xu Jiayin was supposed to use to reshape Shenzhen’s skyline.
Many people are speculating about the final outcome of Xu Jiayin and Hengda. Huxiu has written many times that Chen Feng and HNA may be the reference frame for Xu Jiayin and Hengda.
The older generation of entrepreneurs, such as Xu Jiayin and Chen Feng, all have one thing in common: a tougher gamble. But Xu Jiayin is different. The entrepreneur who walked barefoot from one of the poorest villages in eastern Henan Province, grew from a manure digger to China’s richest man, and became the "first loser" overnight. He has an extreme desire for survival, and has strong perseverance and mental strength, and will not easily do things that cannot be imagined.
In Evergrande’s growth history, it has encountered several major crises, which have eventually been saved from danger. For example, Evergrande was shorted by US short-seller Citron in June 2012, which said in a report that Evergrande Real Estate was insolvent. While Xu Jiayin asked Evergrande to respond to the short with financial data, he rushed to Hong Kong with executives to seek allies. Eight investment banks, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the sponsor of Evergrande’s Hong Kong listing, subsequently issued announcements bullish on Evergrande. The next day, Evergrande’s comprehensive clarification report was released. In the end, Evergrande eliminated the crisis within a thrilling 48 hours.
The most serious failure was Hengda’s first IPO in 2008. In 2008, Hengda frantically acquired land all over the country in order to go public, with a land reserve of up to 45.78 million square meters, becoming the real estate developer with the largest land reserves that year. However, the unfortunate fate was to catch up with the US subprime mortgage crisis, and Xu Jiayin was caught off guard.
In April 2008, Hengda’s listing was blocked, and Hengda had to pay 4.10 billion yuan in July, and had to face major bank loans that matured one after another. At that time, only 4 of Xu Jiayin’s 37 projects in the country met the opening conditions, and Hengda’s funding gap was as high as 12 billion. Xu Jiayin went to Hong Kong to seek help for this. Under the recommendation of Yang Shoucheng, Xu Jiayin met Zheng Yutong, the former chairperson of the board of directors of Hong Kong New World Development Co., Ltd., in order to get life-saving money, Xu Jiayin accompanied Zheng Yutong for 3 months to play hoe big D, and finally received 500 million US dollars of assistance, which solved the urgent need and became one of the members of the big D club.
At the same time, in October 2008, Xu Jiayin decided to let Evergrande Real Estate use the tried-and-true "magic" of price reduction promotion again, and the real estate in 18 cities across the country was sold at a 25% discount across the board. Evergrande took out nearly 20,000 housing units at that time, using ultra-low-price sales strategies, and there were more than 2 million square meters of construction area to benefit consumers, returning 5 billion yuan of funds. This trick was also sacrificed by Xu Jiayin at the beginning of last year. At that time, the splash ads of various apps were basically Hengda’s house sales promotions.
In October 2009, Hui Ka Yin announced that Evergrande Real Estate had once again launched its initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At the roadshow luncheon on the first day of Evergrande Real Estate, Cheng Yu-tung, the 84-year-old chairperson of the board of directors of Hong Kong New World Development Group, supported Evergrande Real Estate. Zheng Yu-tung’s public statement, which has huge influence in Hong Kong, allowed Evergrande Real Estate to successfully complete the roadshow of the Hong Kong IPO, and received 11 times the international placement super subscription, and the offer for sale part exceeded 46 times.
On November 5, 2009, Hengda Real Estate finally achieved its listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. At the listing ceremony and listing celebration ceremony of Hengda Real Estate, Zheng Yutong, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong New World Group, Zheng Kachun, General Manager of New World Development Group, Lau Luanxiong, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of China Real Estate Group, and Zhang Songqiao, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of China Chongqing Land, were present to congratulate and give Xu Jiayin face. On the day of Hengda’s listing, Xu Jiayin won the title of the richest man in the Chinese mainland for the first time with a net worth of 42.20 billion yuan, surpassing Wang Chuanfu, the richest man on the Forbes Rich List announced on the same day. Since then, Xu Jiayin has opened the road of crazy expansion and leverage.
It’s just that when Hengda thundered last year, Xu Jiayin’s wealthy friends passed away, and it was difficult to reproduce the brotherhood of that year by selling off (Hengda stocks).
Can the 64-year-old Xu Jiayin save the day again?