Written by丨Hua Xinrui, Shi Chuanxuan, Editor丨Chen Xiaoping.
Vinda, the 20 billion paper giant, is about to change owners.
On December 15, Li Chaowang, the founder of Vinda International, signed a joint announcement, and some offerors made a cash offer and preparedTake 23HK$5 shares**, to acquire the entire equity of Vinda, with a maximum total of HK$26.1 billion.
The day earlier, Li Chaowang and Vinda's major shareholder, Essity G, had each entered into a contract, promising to "accept or procure the acceptance of the equity offer in question" in accordance with the terms of the offer, and the two companies together held about 72 shares62%。
Vinda International, helmed by Li Chaowang, operates a number of well-known paper brands, including Vinda and Tempo, with businesses in Greater China, Southeast Asia and South Korea, with revenue of HK$19.6 billion in 2022.
His daughter, Li Jielin, also serves as the company's chief executive officer.
Once the deal is completed, the Li Chaowang family will:Cashed out about HK$6 billionHowever, he may leave the company where he has worked hard for 38 years.
Unexpected clearance
Vinda's controlling stake is about to change hands, and there is early news that Li Chaowang cleared his shares, which was a slight surprise.
In April, the Li family's father and daughter knew about itThe major shareholder Aishirui has made up his mind
At that time, the Swedish personal care giant publicly stated that it planned to conduct a strategic evaluation of Vinda's holdings, possibly some or all of them. It holds approximately 5159% equity.
The board of directors, led by Li's father and daughter, subsequently issued a voluntary announcement acknowledging that Ancera's "strategic review" of Vinda's equity was indeed likely to reduce investment.
A number of international giants are eyeing each other.
According to reports, Sinar Mas Group, the family of Indonesian overseas Chinese Huang Yicong, and Suzano SA, the world's largest pulp producer in Brazil, Bain Capital, CVC Capital and DCP Capital are all interested in bidding for a controlling stake in Vinda.
In late November, Vinda confirmed that a potential third-party buyer had preliminarily discussed the equity transaction with AnceR.
I didn't think about itLi Chaowang's family also chose to hand over their equity
Li is the founder of Vinda, founded the company in 1985, controls about 21% of the group's shares, and has been the chairman of the board for a long time, and his daughter Li Jielin is also an executive director.
The other two executive directors, one is Vice Chairman Yu Yifang, and the other is Dong Yiping, President of Mainland Technology, both of whom joined the company in 2000 and are veteran entrepreneurs.
It can be said that Vinda's daily operation is still controlled by the Li family's father and daughter.
Before the announcement of the offer, it was reported that Li Chaowang's Fu'an International was interested in taking over the equity of Ancerui. If that is the case, the transfer of control will not interfere with Vinda's operations.
It is learnt that the offeror to be acquired at the present time, Isola Castle Ltd, is a company incorporated in the Cayman IslandsIt is indirectly wholly owned by APRIL Group.
April is part of the Golden Eagle Group, founded by Indonesian businessman Tanoto Tano, with total assets of more than $15 billion.
Tanoto is sitting on a huge integrated forestry, pulp and paper industry, which is an industrial capital with a need for internal integration, and once the acquisition is successful, it may send its own senior executives, bringing about changes in governance structure and management.
In this case, Li Chaowang may leave Vinda, which was founded single-handedly.
Wealthy businessmen enter the game
In the past ten years, Li Chaowang has undergone two equity changes.
In 2013,Axerial with 86HK$4.7 billion, bought nearly 300 million shares of Vinda International;The following year, it was again 11For a consideration of HK$400 million, Vinda will be provided with the business of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau**, and the exclusive license of the tissue brand "tempo Depot" in the mainland will be included free of charge.
*From Vinda Weibo.
With the help of major shareholders, the Li family's Vinda has been smooth sailing, with its turnover increasing from 6.8 billion in 2013 to 19.4 billion Hong Kong dollars in 2022, an increase of 185 times;Profit peaked at 18HK$7.4 billion, which is roughly 345 times.
During this period, AnceRay fully demonstrated its trust, never carried out large-scale **, only sent senior executives as non-executive directors, and did not directly participate in daily operations, and the two parties were safe and sound.
However, changes in the paper industry have emerged.
In the past three years, Vinda's revenue has increased, and its profit has declined one after another. From January to June this year, its revenue was 100HK$700 million,The profit is only 1HK$2.1 billion.
The decline in profitability lies in Vinda's position in the downstream of the paper industry, and the cost of raw material pulp continues to be high and cannot be controlledIts main domestic tissue business, with fierce competition, continues to fight the first war, greatly eroding profits.
This passive situation may prompt Li Chaowang and Ashrui to choose to leave.
Chen Jianghe took 26 billion to enter the game, which is a good deal.
Asia Pacific Resources, which he controls, is one of the world's largest and most efficient pulp and paper producers, employing 9,000 people.
According to the disclosure, its pulp and paper mill in Liao Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, can produce 2.8 million tons of pulp and 1.15 million tons of paper per year, which is the largest in the world.
Once Tanoto acquires Vinda, he will be able to expand the level of vertical integration, extend its reach to end-users, and reduce costs upstream to increase Vinda's profitability.
Vinda's operations in Southeast Asia, may also be favored by Chen Jianghe.
In December last year, Li Chaowang rushed to Malaysia to participate in the factory commissioning ceremony and announced that the first phase of the new headquarters in Southeast Asia was put into operation.
The Southeast Asian market is a strategic location for Vinda Group's overseas expansion and stable growth. Li Jielin said.
According to Kantar Worldpanel, baby care and feminine care are the two major categories with the largest market share in Malaysia.
Father-daughter partner
Li Chaowang has been in the paper industry for more than 30 years.
Born in 1958 in Jiangmen, Guangdong, he came from a poor background, and in early 1985, the factory he worked for was merged into the Xinhui Commodity Factory, and he became the director, which was the predecessor of Vinda.
Eight years later, he established Vinda Paper City, ordered international equipment from Japan, increased production capacity, and began to enter the fast lane, Vinda was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2007.
Li Chaowang cultivated his daughter Li Jielin very early and brought her to Vinda in 2012.
The Macquarie University graduate started his career as a Business Development Manager, responsible for overseas business development, and then joined Vinda's Board of Directors three years laterIn 2020, he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer, father and daughter are officially partners.
There are some things that his experience and pattern will predict the result, but he will still give me the courage and opportunity to dare to speak my mind. ”
Li Jielin once said that when the two communicated, Li Chaowang always maintained an open and inclusive attitude and listened carefully to his daughter's opinions.
Vinda's revenue pillar is the tissue business, which accounts for more than 8% of revenue, and has also entered personal care businesses such as feminine care, baby care, and incontinence care.
The father and daughter have always adhered to the high-end strategy, taking high-end categories as the core of development, and their high-end tissue products, such as Vinda cotton tough and luxurious series, and Debao series, have high market recognition and satisfactory sales performance.
Li Jielin is good at promoting female-oriented product marketing, and the image of sanitary napkin Libresse is particularly successful.
In terms of channel changes, the two responded keenly, and established a professional e-commerce team 10 years ago to deepen the development of online business. In the first half of the year,The share of e-commerce channels has expanded to 46%.and the fastest growing.
According to Tianyan, the Li family's father and daughter are mainly Vinda or paper-related entities, and there is almost no diversified business, and they are very concentrated on their main business, and it is no accident that they have achieved a scale of 20 billion.
It's a pity that the transfer of controlling stake in the early years has a meager profit at the moment, and the options are limited in the negotiations.
At present, Vinda's tender offer is still in progress, and there are still variables.
If the Li family's father and daughter take the money and leave, it should be a little regrettable.