FAW Introduction

[dmitra]

Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co., Ltd. (FAW Xiali) is currently planning to sell the residual 15% stake it owns in Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (TFTM) to its parent, China First Automobile Co., Ltd. (FAW)

Background:

At the time of the restructuring of Tianjin Auto Group in 2002, China FAW Group Corporation (FAW Group) received a controlling stake of 50.98% in Xiali. At the same time, Xiali also offered 20% out of its 50% stake in the joint venture with Toyota to FAW Group. FAW Xiali thus retained 30% and Toyota Motor Corporation kept 50% as before.

In 2011, FAW Group created an investment holding company, China First Automobile Co., Ltd. (see above) and transferred its stake in FAW Xiali (which stood at 47.73% then) to this new entity.

In 2015-2016, in order to raise some cash, FAW Xiali sold an engine-making unit and 15% out of its 30% stake in TFTM to FAW. Subsequent to this, FAW Xiali was left with 15% (30%-15%), FAW held 35% (20%+15%), and Toyota held 50%. At the present time, again, in order to survive in the industry, FAW Xiali is offering this last bit (15%) to FAW. If this transaction goes through, FAW will end up with a 50% stake in TFTM, and FAW Xiali will be out of this JV.

Of note, FAW Xiali is a listed company, and the second largest shareholder in FAW Xiali is the BENEFO Group with a 19.46% stake. BENEFO (Baili Machinery Equipment) Group is the successor to the erstwhile Tianjin Auto Group and we already know it as the owner of Tianqi Meiya Auto.

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Other related events:

1. In September 2018, FAW Xiali announced the sale of 100% of its stake in Tianjin FAW Huali Automobile Co., Ltd. [a.k.a. FAW Huali (Tianjin)] to Nanjing Zhixing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd., a third-level stepdown subsidiary of Nanjing-based (Hong Kong-incorporated) EV startup Byton Limited, for 1 yuan. We had already heard about an impending sale of Huali assets, including production license, to any buyer willing to assume the obligations and debts of Huali. Byton ended up being that buyer.

2. In 2017, FAW had intended to sell 24.73% (out of 47.73%) of its stake in FAW Xiali to any strategic investor; however, no buyer turned up within the three-month period of open offer.

3. In April 2018, FAW Group reportedly invested around $260 million in Byton, when the latter had raised $500 million in Series-B round of funding.

[PGMJ]

It seems FAW brand name will be scrapped, being replaced by Bestune.
See this interview here:

https://bestsellingcarsblog.com/2019...tune-for-cars/

[Lawrence]

FAW is a huge state-owned conglomerate, with more subsidiaries than we can count. So the FAW name and brand won't go away in China any time soon, but for global market aspirations, "FAW Car" division wants a more timely and attractive name, to project a future-oriented image.
Although "tune" has become popular with auto and motorsports enthusiasts, I'm not sure the people will easily make the connection for a product that is not music- oriented. We have to wait and see.

Remember BAIC did something similar when it introduced the "Senova" brand to its new Saab based product line....as did GAC when it launched the "Trumpchi" brand.
Chery and Geely made a move to create each one's own catchy sounding brand names, but they launched so many that it led to confusion and they had to pull back.

Whatever company it is, I strongly believe that its as important to bring in native English speakers for creating name brands, as it is to bring in recognized body design specialists, like Geely's Peter Horbury of Volvo fame.

[dmitra]

An intra-group asset swap has been approved by SASAC.

FAW Car Co., Ltd., which produces Besturn/Bestune and Mazda cars*, has proposed an asset swap plan according to which it will acquire commercial vehicle manufacturer FAW Jiefang Automotive Co., Ltd. in exchange for its car-making assets.

FAW Car Co., Ltd., a listed company now 53% owned by China First Automobile Co., Ltd. (FAW Group's investment arm), had set up a new subsidiary in June 2019 called FAW Benteng Car Co., Ltd. FAW Car Co., Ltd. will transfer almost all its assets, except a finance co., an insurance co., and some unspecified "retained assets", to FAW Benteng Car Co., Ltd. It will then acquire the entire 100% equity, assets and liabilities of FAW Jiefang Automotive Co., Ltd. from China First Automobile Co., Ltd. and transform itself into a pure commercial vehicle player. Its 100% shareholding in FAW Benteng Car Co., Ltd. will thereafter be transferred to China First Automobile Co., Ltd.

This transaction will allow FAW Group to unlock the enterprise value of FAW Jiefang as the same will be reflected in the stock price of FAW Car Co., Ltd., since FAW Jiefang will become FAW Car's 100% subsidiary.

FAW Jiefang is a much larger corporation than the current FAW Car. FAW Jiefang's equity has been valued at 27.009 bn RMB, whereas the current FAW Car is estimated to be worth 5.088 bn RMB. The difference in value will be made up by issuance of 19.9 bn RMB worth of new shares of the transformed FAW Car and the rest in cash. By taking in FAW Jiefang, FAW Car's liabilities will also increase about five-fold.

http://stock.jrj.com.cn/2019/09/10165228116769.shtml
https://www.autohome.com.cn/news/201909/947090.html

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*FAW Car Co., Ltd. transferred its Hongqi-related assets to China First Automobile Co., Ltd. in 2017.

[dmitra]

FAW Jilin Automobile Co., Ltd., which operates two plants in Jilin City, Jilin Province, and is known for making Senia SUVs, Jiabao vans and some Jiefang minitrucks, has been acquired by well-known LSEV-maker Shandong Baoya New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd.

Baoya is based in Jinan, Shandong, and has factories in Jinan, Dezhou, Bijie, and Xiangyang; it makes low-speed electric vehicles under Baoya and Yazhi brands. For the group's lineage, see this page.

Baoya has acquired 70.5% of FAW Jilin Auto for 1.5 billion RMB.

https://www.autohome.com.cn/news/201912/958726.html
https://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing...z8493248.shtml

[Lawrence]

The "see this page" website was not available : www.baoya-ev.com
However the following website is still active:
http://www.byvehicle.com/
Didn't Baoya also acquire Loncin, the motorcycle maker?

[dmitra]

Originally Posted by Lawrence

The "see this page" website was not available : www.baoya-ev.com
However the following website is still active:
http://www.byvehicle.com/

Doesn't matter as the Qichacha page itself is sufficient, as a starting point, to trace the company's parentage (ownership chain) and subsidiaries.

Didn't Baoya also acquire Loncin, the motorcycle maker?

No. The parent groups of Baoya and Loncin are unrelated. Loncin did acquire 51% of Lichi in 2015, though.
Baoya is related to Flybo.

[Lawrence]

My error: your "see this page", www.qichacha.com, website is active and provides the full background of Baoya........ Sorry about that.

[erik (laofan), cmvdc]

The website www.byvehicle.com is a left over of another time: the latest news on the website is from August 2012 (!), see http://www.byvehicle.com/news.html.
Also the production program is of that time, the Baoya 2020 production program is totally different (Katong, Tongnian, Yabei, Yazhi EQ1, Yazhi EQ3.)

[dmitra]

Following the asset swap (see post #14), FAW Car Co., Ltd. has been renamed FAW Jiefang Group Co., Ltd.