Tan Hui
"Everyone mentioned Tan Hui during the start-up, but if you want to be a century-old shop, I hope everyone will only mention Xingmei." As the younger brother of Tan Hui, Qin Hong, the boss of Stellar Group, said so when interviewed by this reporter.
On July 20th, Stellar International announced that SMIIC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stellar International, was going to spend HK$ 55 million to win 25 cinemas from Tan Hui, and had signed a letter of intent.
According to the plan, Stellar Group will abandon the coexistence of several businesses in the past and focus on the film industry.
And this strategic evolution, the Qin brothers have experienced more than 10 years of struggle.
The legendary big brother
Tan Hui seems to be an inextricable link, whether it is the Xingmei Department or the lace-colored "Heaven and Earth".
According to the industrial and commercial registration data, Beijing Changtai Song and Dance Hall Co., Ltd., the predecessor of "Heaven and Earth", was established in 1993. In May 1997, Changtai Song and Dance Hall was approved by the State Trademark Office to obtain the registered trademarks of "PASSION" and "Heaven and Earth" in both Chinese and English. In September, 1999, the State Trademark Office approved the change of the registrant of the registered trademark to Beijing Changqingtai Catering and Entertainment Co., Ltd. funded by Tan Hui.
It was in 1999 that Tan Hui took the first step to become a legend. He placed 75% of the shares of "Heaven and Earth" in his Beijing Sino-foreign joint venture Changqingtai Catering and Entertainment Company, with a registered industrial and commercial investment of 1.95 million US dollars. After the renovation, the "Heaven on Earth" changed from an old nightclub to a KTV-style business structure, and the consumption standard also soared.
According to people familiar with the matter, when the "Heaven and Earth" was light, the daily water recorded reached more than 300,000. It is estimated that the annual profit of "Heaven on Earth" is at least 20-30 million yuan.
Such a stable cash flow gave birth to Tan Hui’s "Zhuojing Department", and at the same time, it also completed Tan Hui’s capital accumulation from "stubborn master" to capital player.
In addition, the high-end communication field of "Heaven and Earth" has brought a large number of powerful people to Tan Hui. In the case of Zhang Enzhao, the former president of China Construction Bank, the prosecution’s indictment disclosed such details: In May 2002, Zhang Enzhao accepted $10,000 from Tan Hui for the first time in the "Heaven and Earth" parking lot, and after that, he went through various experiences and got a loan of 650 million yuan. The acquaintance with Li Peiying, chairman of the Capital Airport, is exactly the same.
In the face of the media, the Qin brothers did not deny that they once owned "heaven and earth", but stressed that "they were transferred out five years ago".
However, it was the creation of "heaven and earth" five years ago that made Tan Hui, the legendary big shot, succeed in his future fate.
In contrast, although Tan Hui’s "business childhood" is not well known by the outside world, it has some primitive accumulated strength.
In August, 1997, Tan Hui cooperated with his brother Qin Hong to establish Chongqing Changfeng Communication, invested in 800Z mobile communication (the predecessor of CDMA), and began to enter the telecommunications industry.
After Tan Hui controlled "Heaven and Earth" for one year, with the annual profit of 20-30 million yuan, in 2000, it invested in Chongqing Changfeng Communication (000892.SZ), the first capital platform in China. At the same time, it has acquired an optical fiber backbone network covering the whole country, and established a broadband metropolitan area network covering the whole province in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei and Jiangsu. A broadband network platform covering the whole network and accessing four provinces was formed.
After that, in 2001, the telecommunications map of Tan Hui took shape after seven years of business. In order to build the content platform of Changfeng Communication, connect with the network terminal users of Changfeng Communication, and establish the industrial model of "Telecom+Media+Technology", Zhuojing Investment and Changfeng Communication jointly established Xingmei Media Group Co., Ltd. The "Xingmei Department" was born.
ride on a horse to enclose
With money and "capital strength" in 2002, Tan Hui’s business expansion was extremely exciting.
In October of that year, Tan Hui served as the chairman of Changfeng Communication, and began to invest in large-scale acquisition of content companies and media assets. Its subsidiaries include more than a dozen companies including Beijing Huaxia Culture Communication Company, China Film Stellar Cinema Co., Ltd., Feiteng Film and Television Base, Stellar Film and Television Culture Co., Ltd., Stellar Digital Media Co., Ltd., Stellar Shanghai Zhonglu Culture Co., Ltd. and Instek Video Technology Co., Ltd. in China Electric Film Archive.
The industrial model of "telecommunications+media+technology" has made Stellar Group a dark horse in the industry for a while, and its M&A speed and business model have attracted attention.
In 2003, Tan Hui launched its capital market. In order to integrate overseas entertainment content and lay out Hong Kong’s capital platform, it acquired Oriental Charm (00198.HK, later renamed as "Stellar International"), Jingqi Publishing Group (8010.HK, later renamed as "Stellar Publishing") and mobile advertising (8036.HK) in.
As a result, the Qin brothers controlled four listed companies, and an industrial structure with capital as the leader, new media as the core and content as the support was formed.
However, the expansion of the Qin brothers has not stopped. In 2003, through the acquisition and publication of the banner, it controlled Cheng Bao, the oldest Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong. At the same time, it acquired Sunshine Satellite TV and established a content production and broadcasting platform. In July of that year, the first digital entertainment channel in China was launched in cooperation with Fujian Cable TV Network. In September, it signed a strategic agreement with China Telecom and became one of the first 13 strategic partners of China Telecom’s "Connected Star".
In 2004, relying on Stellar International (00198.HK), Tan Hui acquired the chain business of Internet cafes in Sichuan, and used the group resources to acquire Hunan Hunan Computer (SZ000748) to lay out the digital terminal equipment industry.
It has been impossible to verify the views of the Qin brothers on Xingmei Group at that time. However, when Qin Hong reviewed the original situation of Stellar Group to our reporter, he said, "The stall is too big, which puts great pressure on management, manpower and capital."
In fact, around 2004, due to the rapid expansion, Stellar Group has owned 17 companies of various types. At the same time, it has formed the capital platforms of four or five listed companies with Zhuojing Capital as the investment link, and the scale of fixed assets has reached nearly 2 billion yuan.
However, Stellar Group’s cash flow is facing torture. Qin Hong clearly remembers that "the debt ratio of the group was very high at that time". And this pointed to the pain of Xingmei Group’s expansion at that time.
Not surprisingly, Tan Hui still defined 2005 as the expansion year in the brief history of his enterprise.
At that time, Tan Hui bought Great Wall Broadband, with the intention of connecting the huge user base of Great Wall Broadband with Xingmei content industry and establishing an aircraft carrier giant of telecommunications media. When negotiating with CITIC Group and Great Wall Group (300089, Share Bar), the shareholders of Great Wall Broadband, the case of Zhang Enzhao, the president of China Construction Bank, involved Tan Hui.
Although it was later unscathed, Stellar Group and its related subsidiaries were affected one after another. In 2005, Stellar began to divest non-performing assets on a large scale, repay bank debts, sell Sunshine TV and reorganize Changfeng Communication.
Also in 2005, Tan Hui went through the relevant legal procedures and officially withdrew from "Heaven and Earth".
It is impossible to find out from the hidden known information whether quitting the "Tianshan Human World" helped Tan Hui. However, perhaps because of his sensitivity, in the case of Li Peiying, the chairman of the Capital Airport in 2009, he turned the tables again.
Qin hong
Difficult reorganization
However, the impact of such twists and turns on this entertainment tycoon is obvious.
Qin Hong recalled, "trapped by the negative influence at that time, from 2005 to 2009, we have been in the process of restructuring."
In addition to retiring from Changfeng Communication, Sunshine Satellite TV and "Heaven and Earth" in 2005, in 2009, Tan Hui withdrew from Xingmei Union and was taken over by Du Huikai, the son-in-law of Zheng Yutong, Chairman of New World (600628, Share Bar) Group. In 2009, Tan Hui signed an agreement with Yang Jiacheng to withdraw from Chengbao.
To be exact, Stellar Group has spun off almost all industries except the film industry.
In fact, Tan Hui has handed over the main business of Stellar Group to Qin Hong. Qin Hong is now the chairman of Stellar Group. At the same time, in March this year, Tan Hui increased his shareholding in Stellar International to 64.23% as a major shareholder. Almost at the same time, Wang Kui-cheng gave the position of chairman of Stellar International Board of Directors to Qin Hong.
When describing the whole structure of Stellar Group, Qin Hong said, "Listed companies are the platform for us to operate the whole strategy. Therefore, first of all, after four years of difficult resumption of trading, it was finally realized in late 2009."
Regarding focusing on the film industry, Qin Hong explained to our reporter, "From a realistic perspective, our Stellar Media was established for digital media, and then it entered the traditional media. By 2005, when we sorted out the company’s assets, we felt that the film sector was relatively complete. At that time, as a pioneer, Stellar Media has always been the first and second cinema in China and has been in this position. "
According to relevant information, in 2009, the box office market of the whole movie reached 6.3 billion yuan, and from the overall income of the whole industry, according to the industry practice of 1:3, all movie-related market plates reached 20 billion yuan.
In Qin Hong’s view, the film industry in the cultural industry, in terms of economic benefits, is the last large undeveloped industry that can be seen at present. The data shows that the box office of the film industry keeps growing by 30% every year.
start a new undertaking
"No matter how the outside world understands it, I prefer to regard this transformation of Stellar Group as a second venture." Qin Hong said, "And this idea of transforming the film industry is also the result of my discussion with Tan Hui."
Qin Hong’s film industry includes film production, cinema distribution, cinema construction and management, and film and television base development.
In January, 2010, Tan Hui injected capital into Stellar International with the gesture of "returning the carbine". According to the announcement, the company issued a convertible note with a principal amount of HK$ 100 million to its major shareholder, Tan Hui, and the net proceeds of HK$ 99 million were used as funds for possible future investments and general working capital.
As a result, Tan Hui and Smil (Strategic Media International, a major shareholder affiliated company) hold 59.41% of the company’s equity. If all convertible notes are converted, the total shareholding will increase to 64.23%.
At the same time, Stellar Group controlled by the Qin brothers injected high-quality assets into Stellar International. At the end of June, Stellar International announced that Stellar International would acquire its Admiral Team at a cost of about HK$ 1.2 billion, including issuing HK$ 480 million convertible notes and about 2.44 billion shares to Tan Hui. The company already owns two companies, GDL and SMIIC, which hold relevant shares in the operating companies of 12 cinemas in China.
In the cinema map of Stellar Group, Qin Hong said, "We have eight cinemas in Beijing next July, and we have three in Shanghai. We actually want to form four domestic cinema centers, the northeast and north China with Beijing as the leader, the east China with Shanghai as the leader, the south China with Guangzhou and Shenzhen as the leader, and the southwest center. "