After Rong Zhijian resigned, some foreign countries even speculated that Rong Zhijian might face 65,438+00 years' imprisonment. In addition, it is reported that Rong Mingjie, the eldest son who is regarded as the main heir of Rong's industry, may resign.
As one of the most special entrepreneurs, the fate of red capitalists and the Rong family they represent has become the most concerned issue of the public (much more concerned than CITIC Pacific). It is obviously too early to conclude that Rong Zhijian will withdraw from the commercial stage; It is even more nonsense to say that Rong Zhijian's resignation means that the curse of "being rich for three generations" has been verified again, and the Rong family has since declined; What is certain is that Rong Zhijian, as a red capitalist, has become history. And this, perhaps, is the most sad place when Rong Zhijian signed his resignation letter.
Fatal "Stop Earning and Don't Lose" Contract
In March 2006, CITIC Pacific spent $465.438+0.5 billion to acquire all the shares of two Australian companies with 654.380+0 billion tons of magnetite resources respectively. This project makes CITIC Pacific have a huge demand for the Australian dollar. By 20 10, the demand for Australian dollars for capital expenditure will be1600 million, and the annual operating expenditure will be about 654.38 billion Australian dollars. The project will last for 25 years.
In order to prevent the risks caused by exchange rate changes (the Australian dollar has been greatly appreciated against the US dollar in previous years), from August 2007 to August 2008, CITIC Pacific signed dozens of foreign exchange contracts with Citibank and HSBC, among which the Australian dollar contract accounted for the largest proportion. CITIC Pacific actually holds 9 billion Australian dollars in the end, and the amount of foreign exchange speculation is more than four times higher than the actual mining investment.
Every Australian dollar contract has a maximum profit ceiling. When the exchange rate of the Australian dollar against the US dollar is higher than 0.87, CITIC Pacific can earn the difference and the contract will be automatically terminated. However, if the exchange rate is lower than 0.87, but the automatic suspension agreement cannot be reached, CITIC Pacific must continuously receive the goods twice or more. This contract is characterized by "stop earning more than loss", the Australian dollar continues to appreciate, and CITIC Pacific can earn a maximum of 53.5 million US dollars; If the Australian dollar depreciates sharply, the loss is bottomless. Citic Pacific completely bet on the bulls and made more Australian dollars.
The outbreak of the financial tsunami led to a sharp depreciation of the Australian dollar. On June 20, 2008, the announcement date of huge losses, 10, the Australian dollar was only 0.7 against the US dollar. According to the relevant exchange rate, the estimated total loss on the announcement date is15.5 billion Hong Kong dollars. If it hadn't been for the standby credit provided by CITIC Group, the major shareholder, CITIC Pacific would have gone bankrupt. Finally, in June 5438+February 2008, CITIC Pacific ended this bizarre speculation with a loss of HK$ 965,438+billion.
Why CITIC Pacific signed such an obviously unfair agreement as a gambler to earn more Australian dollars is still a mystery. Paradoxically, CITIC Pacific was informed of the company's huge losses as early as September 7, 2008, but it was not until one and a half months later that it announced that the company's market value lost more than half. During this period, CITIC Pacific's short-selling scale in the capital market suddenly rose sharply, even ten times before the accident. After the huge loss event was announced, the stock price dropped to a minimum of 3.66 yuan, and short sellers made a lot of profits, while small and medium investors suffered heavy losses.
Afterwards, Rong Zhijian said that he didn't know about the investment in advance, because the financial department bypassed his decision, and two heads of the financial department (former chief financial officer Zhang Lixian and chief financial officer Zhou Zhixian resigned) were also the first to be "held accountable". However, Rong, our daughter and former chief financial officer, was only demoted and did not leave the company. Rong Zhijian also denied that Zhang Lixian was a "scapegoat".
The police intervened to investigate Rong Zhijian's abdication.
On1October 22, 2008, 10, the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission began to formally intervene in the investigation. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange also said on the 22nd that it would follow up the complaint.
In response to the dilemma, CITIC Pacific announced late at night on June 5438+1October 2 1 2008 that it planned to sell all or part of the equity of its subsidiary, Dachanghang, in order to obtain some funds. While saving himself, Rong Zhijian did not forget to ask the parent company CITIC Group for help. At the critical moment, CITIC Group made another move and decided to inject US$ 65.438+0.5 billion into CITIC Pacific to restructure some debt obligations of foreign exchange contracts. CITIC Pacific also immediately terminated the sale of Dachang Bank.
At the same time, the investigation of CITIC Pacific by the securities regulatory authorities is also deepening. On 200912, it was announced that 65,438+07 directors were under investigation by the securities regulatory authorities, including Chairman Rong Zhijian, his eldest son Rong Mingjie, Group Managing Director Henry FAN, 7 executive directors and 7 non-executive directors. However, our beloved daughter, former CFO Rong, former CFO and former CFO are considered as the three key figures in the incident, but they are not on the survey list.
On March 25th, CITIC Pacific announced its 2008 results. The annual report shows that in 2008, the after-tax net loss attributable to CITIC Pacific shareholders was HK$ 654.38+026 billion, of which the after-tax loss due to liquidation and fair market value of foreign exchange contracts was HK$ 654.38+046 billion. If the losses are excluded, the after-tax profit of1900 million Hong Kong dollars can be obtained last year. "This is the first loss since CITIC Pacific 19 was established." When the silver-haired Rong Zhijian told the truth, it was said that the whole press conference was suddenly silent. Rong Zhijian said that he is still confident of turning a profit in 2009, but the profit rate is difficult to predict.
With the background of "Red Top Businessman" in Rong Zhijian and the strong support of CITIC Group, the industry generally believes that the "Aussie Gate" incident of CITIC Pacific should come to an end. However, on 3 April, the Hong Kong police conducted a surprise investigation on CITIC Building to investigate whether any directors of the company made false statements and conspired to defraud, which suddenly escalated the incident. On April 8th, 67-year-old Rong Zhijian announced his resignation as chairman of CITIC Pacific.