Chapter 19 Greencool: Vultures that eat carrion

The relationship between Gu Chujun and Kelon began in 1989. In March, the most influential economic newspaper in China at that time, the "Economic Information Daily" under Xinhua News Agency, published a headline on the front page saying: A young scientist named Gu Chujun, who was just 30 years old, invented the "Gu's Cycle Thermodynamic Theory and Technology".It is said that the technology applied to refrigerators and small air conditioners can save energy by 20%-40%, and does not use Freon.The newspaper was full of admiration for his skills, and distributed an eye-catching commentary - "Quickly Grab the God of Wealth Gu Chujun".

Pan Ning, who has always been hungry for new technologies, saw this report and specially cut out the newspaper and asked his subordinates to take a closer look.A month later, his subordinates reported that Gu Chujun was young and energetic, and claimed that more than 100 foreign refrigerator companies had contacted him, and he was not willing to transfer technology to domestic refrigerator companies.And as far as we know, his technology doesn't seem to be as mature as the newspaper said.That's the end of the matter.No one expected that 12 years later, the "God of Wealth" scientist would take control of Kelon in an extremely ambiguous way, and finally send Kelon to the point of decline.

Let's first explain Gu Chujun's adventures before taking over Kelon.He was born in a small village called Cangchang in Tai County, Jiangsu Province. He studied internal combustion engines at Jiangsu Institute of Technology in his early years, and later was admitted to Tianjin University as a graduate student in thermodynamics.This is a stubborn and extremely proud person.Once, when he talked about his mentor with his younger brother, he even said: "It's not bad if he can understand half of what I do." At the age of 30, he "invented" a set of thermodynamic cycle theory, which was directly named "Gu Theory", its good name can be imagined urgently.Although his new technology is sought after by the media, it is not favored by his peers. Even his mentor publicly wrote an article saying that what he is doing is "pseudo-theory".Unable to find a suitable buyer, Gu Chujun set up a small company with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan to sell his energy-saving technology. In 1991, at the beginning of China's home appliance consumption boom, he set up an air-conditioning factory in Huizhou to produce Xiaokang brand air conditioners. The advertisement claimed that it was "the most energy-efficient household air conditioner in the world."At that time, it was catching up with the "air conditioner craze". The cost and price of the air conditioners produced by Gu Chujun were low, and each unit could basically earn 1,000 yuan.In the second year of setting up the factory, the output reached 60,000 units. After 3 years, he earned nearly 100 million yuan.Unfortunately, in 1994, the Huizhou Municipal Technical Supervision Bureau determined that the quality of Xiaokang air-conditioning products was not up to standard, so they sealed up the factory.In a rage, Gu Chujun sued the Huizhou Technical Supervision Bureau.He later recalled: "Before 1996, my life was almost fighting against the world."

After defeating Huizhou, Gu Chujun immediately went north and built a new fluorine-free refrigerant factory in Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone, named "Greencool".It was in those few years that people gradually realized that Freon used in refrigerators and air conditioners was very destructive to the ozone layer of the atmosphere.As a result, fluorine-free home appliances have become a new concept that is sought after, and some provinces have also fashionablely put forward slogans to speed up the process of fluoride-free, and Gu Chujun's technology and factories have just arrived at this node. In 1998, Gu Chujun’s time came, and Greencool’s refrigerant was approved by the State Environmental Protection Administration as a recommended product for environmental protection and practical technology. Provinces and cities such as Hainan, Hubei, and Tianjin also regarded his products as the first choice for fluorine-free substitutes. In 2000, Greencool was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of Hong Kong, raising 546 million yuan.In the prospectus, a director surnamed Wang is the recently retired deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration.

Although Gu Chujun's experience of accumulating wealth is tortuous, it is not vague.However, he chose to completely rewrite it.According to his own description, after 1989, he was invited by his British partner—he still refused to disclose the name of the company—to go to England to found Greencool, and then went to Wall Street to experience investment banking. During the time, he founded 9 companies around the world.Greencool refrigerant is the most expensive product in the international refrigeration market, occupying 25% of the European market, 10% of the North American market and 50% of the Asian market, which brought Gu Chujun a huge fortune.Therefore, he often said: "Don't ask me where the money comes from, my money has an international background."

In an era when the Internet has flattened the world, it is really not easy for Gu Chujun to tell a story that never happened.He refused to provide even one witness to this experience, and even acquaintances revealed a detail, the person's spoken English could not reach the level of communication with others.Gu Chujun's suspicious business activities, in addition to his 10 years of "overseas experience", also have Greencool's performance.In the first year of listing, Greencool announced that it had achieved a profit of 269 million yuan, and its operating income had increased by 3,300 times in the past three years. Its profit ranked first on the Growth Enterprise Market of Hong Kong.In the 2001 annual report, the company announced that it achieved an operating income of 516 million yuan, a gross profit of 410 million yuan, and a net profit of 340 million yuan.Caijing magazine, known for its rigorous financial analysis, directly stated that "its income is simply an unattainable figure." "21st Century Business Herald" reported that Greencool's so-called performance comes from a large number of false contracts. "The core of its story is to sign false orders everywhere, so many fake orders can be packed in sacks."

It was such an entrepreneur surrounded by many gray halos who walked into another Kelon shrouded in gray fog. On October 31, 2001, financial reporters from major media across the country got a piece of news without warning: a little-known Greencool company became the largest shareholder of Kelon, a leading refrigeration appliance company.The former purchased a 20.6% stake in Kelon Electric for 560 million yuan (the purchase price was later reduced to 348 million yuan).At the press conference, the mayor of Ronggui Town explained: "As the government, the best result for the enterprise should be zero shareholding and zero debt. It should withdraw from the enterprise and only abide by its own macro control responsibilities." Greencool was chosen because it was "optimistic about its high-tech core technology, transnational business network, talents and market advantages".

These high-sounding reasons obviously cannot satisfy the curiosity of the reporters, and are not even enough to solve any doubts: Why did Kelon sell?Why a targeted sale?Why choose Greencool?Why is it such a low price?All in all, what the hell has happened to Crone all these years? Judging from the facts that happened later, even Gu Chujun, the buyer, didn't figure out what happened to Kelon. How Gu Chujun hooked up with Ronggui Town has always been a mystery.Gu Chujun's team has some well-connected officials who went to sea, and one of them was the director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.They should be the main enablers. The author of "Gu Chujun Investigation" Chen Lei quoted an insider who used to be the secretary of the board of Kelon Electric Co. In order to deal with the transaction, "Gu Chujun told the government that if he was allowed to buy it, Rongsheng Group would not have to pay back the money owed to Kelon."

Financial journalists all over China and people who are concerned about the Kelon turmoil believe that this unknown Gu Chujun used some means to steal a big gold brick.Even Gu Chujun himself was probably so pleased at the beginning. He later recalled in detail the situation before and after the acquisition of Kelon: "When we signed the contract on September 27, 2001, we only knew that we might lose 100 million yuan. By the end of November, we were told that the loss might exceed 600 million yuan. We were shocked at that time. And the signed agreement has been announced. In this case, we went back and had a meeting, and finally came to the conclusion that Kelon’s cost control has a big problem. If it is done strictly, it is possible to make profits. I Joined Kelon in January 2002. When the audit report came out in March, Kelon had a loss of 1.5 billion yuan. The initial report was 1.8 billion yuan. We worried that such a large loss would make creditor banks lose confidence, so we took it back through mergers and acquisitions① 300 million. For about half a year to eight months, the bank only charged Kelon and did not lend.”

In April 2002 after Gu Chujun took over, Kelon Electric announced its annual report as usual. Although the market had no illusions about its performance, the data it heard still made people jump off their stools: the loss in the previous year was more than 600 million On the basis of RMB 1.555 billion, the company continued to report an annual loss of 1.555 billion yuan, and lost 2.2 billion yuan for two consecutive years, setting a record among listed Chinese home appliance companies that year. Analyzing its annual report, it can be found that the composition of its losses is as follows: a huge bad debt provision of 172 million yuan has been accrued for the 800 million yuan owed by Rongsheng Group, a large increase in other bad debt provisions and depreciation and impairment of fixed assets, and a provision of 160 million yuan The huge advertising expenses of RMB 1,000, etc.; and the operating expenses and management expenses of Kelon Electric were as high as 2.117 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 568 million yuan from the previous year, accounting for almost half of its main business income.All the above expenses are either not closely related to the company's production and sales revenue, or are exaggerated to the point of astonishment, which is basically a financial treatment like a surgical operation.Later, when Professor Lang Xianping of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology commented on Kelon's loss, he directly criticized it as "taking a big bath".

Based on these data and memories, one can draw a conclusion: the Kelon that Gu Chujun got was a weak body that had been hollowed out, and before he entered, he had no accurate information on the severity of Kelon's financial situation.