Hong Kong has always brought together different financial speculators. "Hong Kong 01" found that the High Court had multiple filings related to stock mortgages, accusing overseas financing institutions of approving low-interest and high-value loans as a solicitation. Listed companies may mainly hold large stocks. Shareholders of the company pledged their shares to borrow, but after the stocks were transferred to custody, the borrowers were unable to obtain loans, and were unable to get back their shares due to the huge break-up fee. Some of the involved shares were even more suspicious of being sold in the market, causing a sharp drop in a single day 90%.
The reporter investigated a number of court, listing and company registration documents in Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, and tax havens, and revealed that the company behind it was suspected to be related. Regulators in the United States, Canada and other places have already warned or initiated litigation.
The story is told by a mainland real estate developer with tight funds who came to Hong Kong to initiate litigation after failing to borrow money.
01 Investigation series reports:
Mortgage stock survey・1｜Mainland real estate merchants' financial difficulties and financing
Mortgage stock survey・2｜Several listed company shareholders recover cross-border documents and reveal the connections behind
Mr. Huang, a mainland real estate businessman who mortgaged the stocks but was unable to get the stocks back, thought he had fallen into a trap.
(Photo by Lao Xianliang)
Small mainland real estate developers are tight on funds and want to mortgage stock financing
Mr. Huang is the proprietor of a small real estate developer in an inland province in the mainland. Like many mainland real estate developers, he faced a shortage of funds and used stock mortgage loans with a market value of more than 100 million yuan for turnover in the middle of the year.
Unfortunately, the loan failed, and the stock was transferred to an overseas account. If you want to get it back, you will have to pay a sky-high "breakup fee."
He came to Hong Kong a month ago, called the police, saw a lawyer, and filed a petition with the court.
When the reporter of "Hong Kong 01" met him, he appeared impatient and helpless, muttering to himself from time to time, sometimes blaming himself, reluctant to be named and face the camera, but slowly vomit what happened.
Mr. Huang holds shares of Minsheng Bank through the Hong Kong company "Top-Light (HK) Industry Limited" (Top-Light (HK) Industry Limited).
He filed a lawsuit against the lender "Company A" and the trustee "Company W" in the name of the company.
(Photo by Luo Guohui)
Central American island country companies offer favorable loan terms
In July last year, the Bank of China Bohai Bank (9668) was listed in Hong Kong. Through his Hong Kong-registered company "Top-Light (HK) Industry Limited" (Top-Light (HK) Industry Limited), he holds more than 32 million H shares. Based on the offer price of 4.8 yuan, the market value was 153.6 million yuan at that time.
Because of the shortage of funds, Mr. Huang planned to mortgage the shares of Bohai Bank to cash out. Through the introduction of a friend, he came into contact with a financial institution "Company A" registered in the Central American island country "Saint Christopher and Nevis" (Saint Christopher and Nevis). ".
The two parties signed a loan agreement in May of this year. At that time, the stock price of Bohai Bank was about 3 yuan and the market value of Mr. Huang's shares was about 100 million yuan.
According to the loan agreement, "Company A" provides loans of up to US$30 million (approximately HK$234 million) with a loan-to-value ratio (LTV) of 65% and an annual interest rate of 2.75%.
The Central American island country "Saint Christopher and Nevis" has no diplomatic relations with Beijing and has always established diplomatic relations with Taipei. It is a famous tax haven and a holy land for "selling nationality and selling passports."
The picture shows President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the local area in 2019.
(Picture of the Presidential Palace)
Transfer to escrow account and receive only the first loan
According to the loan agreement, Mr. Huang transferred 32 million shares of Bohai Bank to the custodian, the Central American island country of Bahamas to register a joint account of "W Company".
In June of this year, "Company A" tried several times to transfer loans to Mr. Huang's bank account in the Mainland, but they were unsuccessful. It was not until July that it finally received a total of US$1.85 million (approximately HK$14.43 million) in loans.
In July 2020, Bohai Bank came to Hong Kong for listing.
(Profile picture)
The stocks that demanded the sky-high price of the break-up fee were suspected to be transferred away
According to the loan-to-value ratio (LTV), Mr. Huang can only borrow up to 65 million Hong Kong dollars, but "Company A" claims that it has approved a loan of 30 million US dollars (approximately 234 million Hong Kong dollars), and therefore requires Mr. Huang to add 126 million Bohai shares. The bank shares are used as collateral, otherwise the remaining tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars in loans cannot be issued.
Mr. Huang is still unreasonable and wants to cancel the loan agreement, but "Company A" stated that according to the loan agreement, the "breakup fee" is calculated at 10% of the approved loan amount of US$30 million, which is US$3 million (HK$23.4 million). The two sides are stuck.
He even discovered that the custody stocks were transferred to the accounts of other securities companies after many transfers. "The money was not received and the stocks were transferred. They wanted to take my stocks from beginning to end." From the original hope With a loan of 65 million Hong Kong dollars, only 14.43 million Hong Kong dollars were actually received, but the break-up fee was as high as 23.4 million Hong Kong dollars.
Some of the shareholders seeking mortgage shares have never met with the lending company and rely on WeChat to contact and sign contracts.
(Profile picture / photo by Liang Pengwei)
Never met WeChat to sign a contract
The reporter asked about the process of Mr. Huang's contact with "Company A" and "Company W". He said that the two parties had never met, and communicated and signed online on WeChat through intermediaries in the Mainland.
The website of "Company A" stated that it has an office in Hong Kong, but Mr. Huang apparently does not know whether this company is actually operating in Hong Kong.
Regarding the entire process, Mr. Huang also failed to explain concisely. It is necessary for reporters to review courts, contracts, and search documents to understand the ins and outs of the incident.
In August of this year, "Tonglian", where Mr. Huang served as a director, filed a complaint with the High Court against "Company A" and "Company W", hoping to cancel the loan agreement and get back the shares.
Mr. Huang also called the police in Hong Kong and hoped that the SFC would intervene.
"Company A" claimed to have an office in the Island East Center, but the site was a shared office, and the staff stated that there was no such company.
(Photo by Lao Xianliang)
The website has a Hong Kong address and there is no such company on site
The website of "Company A" has English and Simplified Chinese. It claims to be derived from a wealthy German family in the 18th century. It has offices in many countries. However, it lists the address of the Hong Kong office, which is actually a shared office at the high-level of Taikoo Place Island East Center. The staff said that the company has never worked there.
"Company A" did not reply to enquiries before the deadline.
When “W Company” replied to the enquiry through a lawyer, it said that it understood the purpose of the email sent by the reporter, but it was inconvenient to comment because the case entered the judicial process.
The reporter of "Hong Kong 01" searched a large number of documents in Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore and the island countries of Central America and found that several shareholders of listed companies in Hong Kong were unable to obtain loans and retrieve their shares after collateralizing their stocks. They filed a lawsuit against the loan company and the custodian company. .
(Photo by Luo Guohui)
Multi-country search leads to Ukrainian-American directors
According to the company registration documents of Saint Kitts and Nevis, the director behind "Company A" is an American Ukrainian who has a registered company in Hong Kong.
"Hong Kong 01" searches the courts and company registration records in Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore and other places. The directors of "Company A" or its related companies have long been involved in many lawsuits related to mortgaged stocks, and many more in Hong Kong. Listed companies are involved, and some of them involve major shareholders collateralizing their stocks. The stock price plummeted by 90%. Please pay attention to the second episode.
Companies that mortgage and custody stocks involve multiple jurisdictions, and once litigation or long legal procedures are required.
(Information Picture / Photo by Luo Guohui)
Mortgage stock survey・2｜Several listed company shareholders recover cross-border documents and reveal the connections behind
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