Jingqiang Technology, a high-tech electromagnetic wire manufacturer, has raised eyebrows with its early investor list, which includes a small-town restaurant owner and a construction contractor. The incongruity between these professions and high-tech investment logic, coupled with a last-minute cleanup of nominee holdings before its IPO application, suggests potential historical mismanagement of equity. Guoyuan Securities and its sponsors Gao Zhen and Zhou Xinchen face scrutiny over whether they conducted thorough due diligence during the years-long guidance period, given these glaring anomalies.
**Restaurant Owner’s Investment: Business Logic or "White Glove" Scheme?** During the verification of Jingqiang Tech’s employee shareholding platform, Heyi Investment, one "anonymous shareholder" stood out—a small restaurant operator named She Yiwan. According to the prospectus, employee Wu Xudong held a 50,000-yuan stake on behalf of his uncle, She Yiwan, who runs the "Jinhua Local Cuisine Restaurant" in Tongling’s suburban Datong Town.
Under auditing standards, investment sources and actions must align with reasonable business logic. In 2016, Jingqiang Tech was still a non-listed company in the capital- and technology-intensive electromagnetic wire industry. Why would a small-town restaurant owner, whose risk appetite typically revolves around cash flow and tangible assets, suddenly invest in an industrial manufacturer?
**Construction Worker’s Stake and Murky Transfer Paths** Even more unusual, the prospectus reveals that employee Zhu Xiandong held a 30,000-yuan stake for his cousin Hu Honglin, identified as a "construction worker." This directly touches on red flags in manufacturing IPOs, particularly concerning "construction-in-progress and fixed assets" fraud risks.
Hu Honglin transferred his stake to Zhang Mingfu (a company employee) in February 2020 without updating the registration, leaving it under Zhu Xiandong’s name until March 2024. This "Russian nesting doll" structure—where hidden shareholders transfer stakes without formal updates—suggests Jingqiang Tech’s shareholder registry may not reflect true ownership, potentially violating securities laws on disclosure accuracy.
**Last-Minute Compliance: A Sign of Weak Governance?** In 2021, key stakeholders, including controlling shareholder Zeng Dongwen and executive Wang Dongwen, cleared their nominee holdings (involving sums like 300,000 yuan and 230,000 yuan). This coincided with Jingqiang Tech’s delisting from the New Third Board, hinting at selective compliance—addressing obvious risks while leaving more concealed nominee holdings untouched.
By March 2024, just before its Beijing Stock Exchange IPO application, the company rushed to clean up remaining nominee holdings, including those linked to the restaurant owner, construction worker, and relatives of public servants (e.g., teachers and doctors). This suggests the company’s equity structure remained problematic throughout the reporting period (2022–2023).
**Brokerage Accountability: Did Guoyuan Securities Cut Corners?** Given these irregularities, questions arise about Guoyuan Securities’ Gao Zhen and Zhou Xinchen fulfilling their duties under securities regulations.
- Did they conduct on-site visits to verify the restaurant owner’s financial capacity or cross-check construction contracts to rule out conflicts of interest? - Were funds used in the March 2024 cleanup properly documented, and were capital gains taxes paid on years of nominee holdings? Without proof, the cleanup may lack legal validity.
If sponsors relied solely on the issuer’s explanations without deeper verification, they may have failed their due diligence obligations.
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