Author: Why change the name again
Link: https://www.zhihu.com/question/664992882/answer/3603990233
Source: Zhihu
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I know some state-owned PE firms that have been doing one thing in recent years, acquiring private enterprises. Generally, they target small leading companies in traditional manufacturing industries (not necessarily listed) with stable cash flow but no high growth (meaning no need for further investment) and mature stability in the industry. The owners of these companies are usually older and looking to retire, while their children are not interested in taking over. The usual idea behind such acquisitions is to find a listed company, sell it at a premium, and then exit. Since they usually only acquire local companies, it can be considered very safe and controllable. However, due to the poor stock market performance, valuations have plummeted. The companies acquired in previous years are now losing money on their equity stakes. Therefore, this year they have started to recover. The price at which you sold to the state-owned companies in previous years is the price at which you have to buy back now. I don't know if interest should be calculated (I didn't ask specifically). If you don't buy it back, you will be investigated for tax evasion. Since they are all local companies, it is very controllable. There are only two types of people who have no way out: those who have really lost everything and those who have emigrated. By the way, I'm talking about Hangzhou, the best place in China for protecting private enterprises. As far as I know, some places are even tougher. They will invite you for tea first, then arrange for you to go in and figure things out for yourself. Think about what you've done and come clean when you're ready. If you're not ready, they'll keep you locked up without questioning you until you figure it out. (If the punishment is unknown, the deterrent is unpredictable). How serious is this matter? It's so serious that a certain public security bureau in Hangzhou issued a notice saying that if police from other provinces come to arrest someone across provinces, they can be arrested directly, while recording the incident and reporting it to the Hangzhou police for assistance. In other words, in some places, for various reasons (such as the recent telephone recording that brought down that pyramid scheme), they may arrest you and take you back to make you confess and pay a fine. In 2022, I wrote that after cracking down on education and training in 2021, almost all European funds withdrew from China. At that time, a former colleague I knew was managing a European family fund. Their company had invested heavily in primary market schools, only to end up with nothing. They were very angry at the time, saying, "You're like an abusive husband. Today, I don't like you, so I can beat you up. In a few days, I'll say I still love you. Get lost, I'm done playing, I'll never play again in my life." When I said this, no one believed it. Many people said they would still play even if you didn't. Saudi Arabia is still buying, BASF is investing in China again, and so on. Those with clear minds knew that without research or evidence, a piece of paper could wipe out an entire industry. Later, they found out it was wrong and allowed it to recover. Today, they can fine you even if you use your father-in-law's account, and in places where they can manipulate stock prices without penalty if they want you to warm up the scene tomorrow. Wu Jinglian once said that even casinos have rules, but here it's worse than a casino. In 2021, there was a popular saying on Zhihu and Bilibili, "Hang the capitalists from street lamps." At that time, I said it didn't matter if you lay flat, but if all the capitalists lay flat, everyone would be unemployed. As a result, a bunch of people replied to me saying, "If there are no landlords, who will farm the land?" So in such a place, what is capital for? Now many people say they laugh when they see "reflection" and "independent thinking." I want to say, in a socialist country that still needs to develop a market economy with Chinese characteristics and strengthen the capitalist market, I find it funny when I see "market economy" and "capital market."