Recently, the 65.5% state-owned equity of Zhejiang Yongyi Electronic Payment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Yongyi Payment") previously acquired by Bilibili has once again been publicly auctioned off. According to the Ningbo Public Resource Trading Electronic Service System website, Yuyao China Plastic City Group Co., Ltd. and others have re listed and auctioned this portion of the equity.
The document released by the listing party revealed that the Ningbo branch of the People's Bank of China has officially rejected the administrative license application of Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (the operating entity of Bilibili, abbreviated as "Kuanyu Digital") to become the main investor and actual controller of Yongyi Pay. This also means that Bilibili's plan to acquire payment licenses is "blocked", but there are market reports that "the parties involved in the transaction are still in communication.".
Regarding questions such as "Is the above information true? How does your company respond to this?" and "The reasons why the central bank refused the administrative license application for Kuanyu Digital to become the main investor and actual controller of Yongyi Pay," China Net Finance contacted Bilibili for verification and interviews. As of the time of publication, no response has been received.
65.5% equity will be auctioned off again
It is understood that the 65.5% equity of Yongyi Electronic Payment that was auctioned off this time mainly comes from Yuyao China Plastic City Group Co., Ltd. and Yuyao China Plastic City Logistics Co., Ltd., which hold 9% and 56.5% equity respectively. In addition, Yongyi Electronic Payment also has four other shareholders, including Ningbo Shimao Investment Holdings Co., Ltd., with shareholding ratios ranging from 7.5% to 9%.
Yongyi Electronic Payment, formerly known as Zhejiang Yuyao China Plastic City Online Trading Co., Ltd., obtained the Internet payment business license in June 2012 and completed the renaming of the company in January 2014. In November 2021, Bilibili successfully acquired 65.5% of the state-owned equity of Yongyi Electronic Payment for approximately 118 million yuan.
Afterwards, there was no new news about the equity transfer until the equity of Yongyi Electronic Payment was re listed. The document released by the listing party revealed that the Ningbo branch of the People's Bank of China has officially rejected the administrative license application of Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology Co., Ltd. to become the main investor and actual controller of Yongyi Pay.
Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Broadcom, said that there may be three reasons: firstly, as a state-owned equity auction target, the threshold for Yongyi Electronic Payment may be relatively high; Secondly, Bilibili itself may have situations that do not comply with the new payment regulations, such as the shareholding method and equity structure of the actual controller; Finally, both parties may have agreed to withdraw the change request.
The listing party stated in the document that, after discussion and approval by the Party Group Meeting of the Plastic City Management Center, it has been decided to issue a pre announcement on its 65.5% state-owned equity in Yongyi Pay, and to publicly transfer it to the whole country at a price not lower than the original asset evaluation price of 118 million yuan, in order to reintroduce strategic partners that meet the central bank's filing requirements.
Data shows that in 2023, Yongyi Electronic Payment's revenue was 5.9163 million yuan, but the net loss for the same year reached 3.7358 million yuan, a significant decrease from the net profit of 350100 yuan in 2022, and the overall operation was in a loss state.
Did Bilibili fail to acquire payment licenses?
For Bilibili, the value of payment licenses is self-evident. Previously, the acquisition of payment license equity through Kuanyu Digital Auction was seen as an important signal to boost financial business. The industry generally believes that Bilibili plans to rely on this payment license to make efforts in credit and e-commerce businesses.
Wang Pengbo stated that if all the work of license acquisition is not completed, Bilibili will also lose an opportunity to expand from payment to financial value-added services, and the expected profit growth rate of future investors may also be affected. With the official implementation of the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non bank Payment Institutions on May 1, 2024, the entry threshold for the payment industry will be raised, and the difficulty of obtaining payment licenses for Bilibili will also increase in the future.
The reporter also noticed that the payment license has become the "standard configuration" of Internet giants. For example, Meituan, Vipshop, Didi, Pinduoduo, ByteDance, Ctrip, Kwai and other leading Internet enterprises have targeted payment licenses, completed their layout through acquisition, and expanded other financial businesses.
"Without holding a payment license, e-commerce platforms are unable to carry out secondary clearing and distribution of funds, but this problem can be solved by cooperating with qualified institutions to establish a fund custody account. If the e-commerce platform itself holds a payment license, it can avoid falling into the problem of" secondary clearing "." Wang Pengbo said.
"There is a significant difference between having payment tools and not having payment tools for a company's future growth," Zhang Yi, a senior analyst at iMedia Consulting, told China Net Finance reporter.
However, the reporter noticed that there are also reports in the market that both parties (Yongyi Pay and Bilibili) are still communicating on relevant matters. Wang Pengbo also stated that the Ningbo branch of the People's Bank of China has decided not to accept the transaction without disclosing the reasons. If the transaction complies with the new rules, there is still room for negotiation.
China Net Finance will continue to monitor the latest developments in this event.