Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 351 Trust Settlement
These days, being famous online doesn't mean you're powerful; at best, you're just a well-known figure in the public eye.

Those who have been repeatedly reported on by the front-line reporters are the real big shots.

Mr. Chen's official status today is completely different from what it was a few months ago.

Three days after the Sharp incident, People's Posts and Telecommunications published a related report, referring to Chen Xuebing as a "leading entrepreneur in the telecommunications industry."

The Economic Daily News referred to him as a "financier".

These are all official newspapers.

Once these two newspapers published their reports, other media outlets began to address Mr. Chen with more or less respect, and local reports in Anhui Province were full of praise.

This incident sparked a great deal of discussion, and Mr. Chen suddenly became synonymous with "Chinese entrepreneur".

Online media outlets quickly deleted their previous unserious reports about Chen Xuebing, and Sina Blog also labeled Chen Xuebing's personal blog with the titles of two official newspapers.

Many people called, and Ren Ying stopped all the familiar media outlets that had previously paid her to publish articles about Gu An from coming to interview her.

Not every wave of traffic needs to be fully exploited. This time, Sharp was genuinely ripped off for 200 million yuan. The wasteland in the Economic Development Zone was not developed in cooperation with the project, leaving Sharp with virtually no value. While digging deeper into the truth would be satisfying, it would also damage Sharp's international image.

Fortunately, Sharp also sensed the crisis, and the calls to boycott Japanese goods grew stronger. They didn't dare to sue, but instead spent money everywhere to smooth things over.

Chen Xuebing also benefited greatly. Less than a week after returning to Sichuan, real estate approvals in various places were miraculously approved smoothly. All project managers went to the front line and began preparing for the project. Mianyang and Deyang, which were the fastest, had already deployed machinery to level the land.

The land transfer agreement for a 200-mu plot in Shiyang Street, Chengdu High-tech Zone, has also been published on the official website of the Chengdu Land and Resources Bureau.

Bai Ning's centralized procurement department has completed the preparation of all offices. Although they are still working in two offices for the time being, they are fully equipped and the group's centralized procurement has started simultaneously.

……

On the morning of January 14, Chen Xuebing picked up Ye Yuanxi, who had come from afar, at the airport.

The two did not speak, as Chen Xuebing made one phone call after another, leaving almost no time to talk.

When he received the third call, Chen Xuebing scratched the back of his head and frowned, looking somewhat overwhelmed.

He Zhiya on the other end of the phone was speaking incessantly, seemingly with great earnestness:
"Gao Shijie, director of the Non-Bank Department of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, has issued a strict order: foreign investment is not allowed in trust companies, private capital is not allowed to hold controlling stakes, and financial institutions are not allowed to acquire companies across industries. Chongqing Dong has already done everything in its power to secure this performance-based agreement for you. Now, we can only try to litigate the 620 million yuan off-balance-sheet guarantee from Xinhua Trust. If you spend 80 million yuan to settle the resettlement conditions demanded by the employee congress and accept the performance-based agreement, I will immediately reply to the China Banking Regulatory Commission and transfer the license to you. Time is very tight. We need to ensure that we take over before the promulgation of the 'Trust Company Management Measures' and that Xinhua Trust's license is on the list and under your Changzheng's name. You have at most three days to consider."

Chen Xuebing had a cold face and was very unhappy.

Although he never inquired about this trust license, and it was handled by Director Huang, the process was full of twists and turns.

When the lawsuit was filed, Xinhua Trust had a lot of liabilities. The Chongqing government was able to get the net assets by removing the liabilities through judicial means.

When it came into the hands of Chongqing Yufu, several companies under the control of Tomorrow Group started causing trouble again, and the transfer of ownership also brought up more than 600 million yuan of off-balance-sheet guarantees.

After the New Year, he had some money and transferred 200 million yuan to Yufu to transfer the property to him. However, the China Banking Regulatory Commission did not approve the transfer and did not allow the private enterprise to take over.

Chongqing promised to help him obtain the license, but Yufu didn't want to keep it to itself. After several days of negotiations with the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the CBRC finally agreed to transfer the license to Changzheng, and also proposed several performance-based conditions:

Within three years of the takeover, the company must have paid in 10 billion yuan in capital, pay an additional 25% in taxes annually, and maintain a debt ratio of less than 5%.

They also need to spend money to get the workers' representative assembly sorted out.

The condition set by the employee representative assembly was that the company taking over would pay 80 million yuan in resettlement fees to settle the original employees.

A paid-in capital of 10 billion yuan is a necessary financial guarantee for trust companies, since they need to raise a lot of money, and an empty shell company is definitely not an option.

He admitted it.

He accepted paying an extra 25% in taxes, which was 25% above the base tax rate, for a period of three years.

He even agreed to relocate the original employees.

However, this debt ratio should be within 5%.
"This 6.2 million yuan off-balance-sheet guarantee means that if anything goes wrong, I'll have to cover it up? This is clearly something those original shareholders deliberately created to prevent us from taking over! If I take over this business, they'll definitely cause trouble!"

He Zhiya sighed: "Within three years, we can still go to court. If you're not in a hurry for this license, we can definitely remove this off-balance-sheet guarantee. But now the CBRC is going to conduct a major review and confirm the rights of trust companies. If you want to get this license after the rights are confirmed, the procedures will be complicated. It will take at least one or two years to complete."

He was in a dilemma. He didn't know what to do with the license plate. Yufu's financing channels had always been policy banks, and it had no experience in attracting private capital. Moreover, the financing interest rates for private capital were so high, often more than ten percent. The money brought in would be a blow to Yufu's long-term profit model.

Nowadays, the annual profit margin of ordinary commercial companies is only around ten percent. Not everyone can achieve such high returns. Having too much money can sometimes be a burden.

Chen Xuebing, on the other hand, hoped for as much money as possible—hundreds of billions, hundreds of billions, even trillions—he had countless ways to spend it and get returns far exceeding that.

He also knew that although the revision of the "Administrative Measures for Trust Companies" had set many new rules for the trust industry, it had also truly liberalized business operations.

Following this revision, securities underwriting financial advisory and trustee services are permitted, as well as financing channels such as private placement of bonds to shareholders and application for liquidity loans. In other words, investment in the stock market and real estate market has been completely liberalized.

Regarding restrictions, it is clearly stipulated that trust property is separated from the trust company's own property, and even if the trust company goes bankrupt, the client's funds will not be affected, thus providing legal protection for market investors.

Market confidence will further increase, and the trust fund pool will expand rapidly.

In addition, it was clarified that the maximum number of natural persons in a single trust plan is 50, but the number of institutional investors is not limited.

While this provision limits the scale, new regulations will be introduced in the next two years to completely remove the restrictions on the number of natural persons.

Moreover, he can take money from institutions, which can be used to attract funds through funds, invest in trusts, and then invest in real estate.

Furthermore, the lack of clear regulatory rules for cross-border trusts previously created a gray area for capital outflows. Following this, domestic trust companies can now collaborate with licensed overseas institutions to act as custodians of domestic assets, provide domestic legal and tax consulting services, and assist with foreign exchange registration.

Simply put, he can set up a BVI trust company overseas or cooperate with a licensed trust institution in Hong Kong to bring in the money he earns overseas and arrange his own investments, and he can freely leave the country when needed.

Previously, he could only handle foreign exchange transactions through foreign exchange applications and underground banks. After obtaining the license, he now has his own cross-border funding channel.

A license plate brings countless benefits.

But a dung beetle happens to be stuck in the middle, determined to cause him trouble.

"Alright, I'll handle this lawsuit myself! I'll arrange for someone to transfer the 80 million to you right away. I'll take on the CBRC's betting agreement!"

He didn't want to delay the license issue for even a moment longer, fearing that further delays might cause problems. If it remained in the hands of Yufu Capital, the trust license's value might skyrocket in a year or two, and Yufu might not even sell it.

This isn't something that can be solved with a few hundred million. But thinking of the Tomorrow Group, which had left him with a mountain of trouble, he said viciously:

"Once I get my hands on the company, I'm going to thoroughly investigate the accounts! If I get the evidence, I hope Chongqing will investigate the actual controllers behind these shareholders. Hundreds of millions in debt, hundreds of millions in guarantees—how much net asset did Xinhua Trust have back then? How did they manage to do that? Their methods are not clean!"

Hearing that Chen Xuebing was willing to take over, He Zhiya breathed a sigh of relief and said with a leisurely smile, "Don't be angry. It's not like you insisted on having this company. Their bad debts could have been covered up. Now it seems that Xinhua Trust originally had several major shareholders. They probably fought that internal lawsuit to try to transfer those debts to a new shell company through the court. As a result, we seized the opportunity to take over this company. Now the actual controller behind it is probably furious. We've thrown away the debts and taken away the license."

He Zhiya's words of comfort truly made Chen Xuebing quite happy.

Initially, neither he nor Director Huang knew the details of the lawsuit involving Xinhua Trust. Now, as they gradually gained control of the company, they have pieced together the clues.

The major shareholder of "New Era Company," which previously held 60% of Xinhua Trust, was likely a debtor of the Tomorrow Group.

This debtor helped Tomorrow Group borrow hundreds of millions of yuan from private banks, and then, naturally, was unable to repay it, and was sued.

The collateral for this loan was insufficient, and it did not involve equity in "New Era," which is clearly a violation of regulations.

Subsequently, the bank froze the "New Era" held by the debtor and the "60% equity of Xinhua Trust" held by New Era.

During this process, several other shareholders of Xinhua Trust (also part of the Tomorrow Group) argued that "New Era" was not the personal asset of the debtor, and that Xinhua Trust was not solely held by New Era, and therefore wanted to take over "60% equity of Xinhua Trust" at a low price.

Unfortunately, the lawsuit was filed in Chongqing, where Xinhua Trust is located.

The other party had actually taken complete control of Xinhua Trust, but due to a misstep, Lao Huang seized control of the indebted holding company. Their scheme to secretly transfer Xinhua Trust's shares at a low price failed, and 60% of the shares were taken over by Yufu. Then, they investigated Xinhua Trust's internal liabilities step by step. Using the China Banking Regulatory Commission's requirement for the separation of trust assets as a pretext, they returned Xinhua Trust's internal liabilities to several original shareholders and demanded that the banks be sued to investigate the whereabouts of the funds that were originally loaned, to penetrate the underlying interests, and to find the right people.

Through the debt of Xinhua Trust, the equity of several holding companies was gradually divested, giving Chen Xuebing a relatively clean 100% controlling stake.

If Chongqing didn't have so much debt, it wouldn't have been easy for them to take action.

Tomorrow Group has now lost both its business and its resources. It has lost its license and is still in debt with its creditors, and now there are even more creditors (the remaining shareholders of Xinhua Trust).

Once the value of the licenses rises, they'll be crying.

However, before Xinhua Trust broke away from Tomorrow Group's control, it provided a guarantee for a loan of 6.2 million yuan, making the company itself a new "debtor".

This guarantee was not a loan from the bank, because banks aren't stupid; they wouldn't repeatedly lend money to a company with problems.

The borrower is a lending company.

If this lending company weren't an idiot, it wouldn't have agreed to use Xinhua Trust as a guarantee to lend such a large sum of money to others. Therefore, this lending company is most likely also part of the Tomorrow Group.

This lending company will definitely come after him for the 6.2 million.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) must have been aware of the situation. According to the law, new laws cannot govern old disputes. The CBRC was also afraid that this lawsuit would violate the new regulation of "separation of trust property from the trust company's own property." It is reasonable for the CBRC to use the double insurance of "capital injection of 10 billion yuan" and "debt ratio not exceeding 5%" to ensure that the new trust regulations do not affect the supervision of Xinhua Trust's property from past disputes.

Because it's a private enterprise, it's naturally less trusted than state-owned enterprises.

Fortunately, he has been given three years. He won't acknowledge the 6.2 million, so the lawsuit can be fought slowly.

“The CBRC. I’ll make time to communicate with them,” Chen Xuebing said slowly. “The license. I’ll arrange for someone to take over immediately.”

"You haven't forgotten about the bonded logistics park, have you?" He Zhiya asked cautiously.

"I can't forget it! I've already communicated with Director Wang of the National Social Security Fund! They're willing to provide 1 billion yuan at an interest rate of 7%! Central Huijin hasn't responded yet, but I estimate that 500 to 1 billion yuan shouldn't be a problem! For the rest, we can only look at bank financing channels. Anyway, with a compound interest rate of less than 10%, 25 billion yuan should definitely be no problem!"

The social security fund and Central Huijin Investment Ltd. just received 850 million yuan in dividends from him. These two sums of money, each worth 1 billion yuan, only came in in November, and they are almost breaking even now.

And they're still struggling to make ends meet.

People will naturally give him face.

Upon receiving the reply, He Zhiya immediately smiled broadly: "President Chen, you are the most reliable partner I've ever met. If only I could stay and develop my career in Chongqing..."

"Heh, what's the use of me being reliable? I had such a hard time getting a license plate. I'm moving out next month, so don't contact me if you need anything. Goodbye."

Chen Xuebing chuckled into the phone and hung up.

This wasn't just a venting of emotions, because Rong Xianwen had already made arrangements for the office building in Shanghai.

Once you buy it, do some persuasion with the employees, and you can start the relocation.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up the phone again and notified Rong Xianwen to return to Chongqing to take charge of the trust license takeover.

After Ye Yuanxi finished making the call, he didn't pick up his phone again for a long time before he said with a leisurely smile, "President Chen, you're too busy. Now I know why you don't have time to play ball."

"Hehe, there's still some business to be done in Shenzhen."

As he spoke, he patted Ye Yuanxi's thigh and laughed, "After I'm done with this busy period, I'll be going to Shenzhen after the New Year. If you, Old Ye, want to play ball, feel free to ask me anytime."

"What I mean is, as a big boss, you don't need to worry so much. Just leave it to your subordinates. People should learn to enjoy life, especially when they are young."

Ye Yuanxi looked at Chen Xuebing's youthful profile and seemed to sense something.

Chen Xuebing chuckled and said, "I brought this on myself. This is my hobby. As for life, I can't enjoy it for now."

I want to enjoy life, and at most I can only become a boss as big as you.

Chen Xuebing and Ye Yuanxi got out of the car and quickly walked into the Qingyang Command Center compound.

Both of them walked very lightly. As they went up the stairs, they noticed a middle-aged man in a coat, who looked quite imposing, talking quietly with a young man at the corner of the stairs.

When the young man saw him come up, he exclaimed in a flustered manner, "Hello, Mr. Chen!"

In the rush, the middle-aged man also dropped a medium-sized envelope into his hand.

Both of them were a little embarrassed.

Ye Yuanxi patted Chen Xuebing's arm. Chen Xuebing didn't point it out, just laughed, went upstairs, and entered the centralized procurement office.

(End of this chapter)