On the evening of September 1st, YTO Express (6233) announced that Shanghai Yuantong Jiaolong Investment Development (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiaolong Group"), Yu Huijiao (also known as: Yu Weijiao) and Zhang Xiaojuan signed the Share Transfer Agreement with Alibaba (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd., an enterprise in Alibaba Group, with a planned price of 17.46 yuan/month.
On the morning of September 2nd, the share price of YTO Express International, a Hong Kong stock, continued to rise by over 1%, with a turnover of over HK$ 67 million and a market value of over HK$ 1.6 billion. YTO Express A shares once hit the daily limit.
Alibaba has invested in Yuantong in 215. Through its Hangzhou Ali Venture Capital Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang Cainiao Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., it holds 331,635,663 unrestricted shares of Yuantong, accounting for 1.5% of the total shares of Yuantong, making it the second largest shareholder of Yuantong. After the completion of this transfer, Ali will hold a total of 22.5% shares of Yuantong.
According to the announcement, this move is to further strengthen the capital cooperation ties between the company and Alibaba Group, promote the cooperation and complementary advantages of the two sides in promoting express logistics, air freight, international network and supply chain, and digital technology, and enhance their global comprehensive service capabilities.
On August 21st, Reuters quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Alibaba hopes to increase its shareholding in Yuantong Express by about 3% and become the largest shareholder of Yuantong. At that time, the interface news asked both parties, Alibaba denied the news with harsh wording "false news", and Yuantong said at that time that it would not respond for the time being.
now the boots are on the ground. However, only 12% of the shares were specifically traded, and Ali did not hold the shares. Yu Huijiao and Zhang Xiaojuan still held the actual control rights of Yuantong, with a total shareholding ratio of 41.65%.
it's not surprising that Ali increased his holdings of yuantong, which is a further deepening of cooperation between the two sides for more than ten years. yuantong needs Ali, and Ali also needs yuantong.
The importance of logistics to e-commerce has long been self-evident. In recent years, Alibaba has devoted itself to building a global logistics backbone network through the rookie network, among which the domestic express network is an important part of its strategic layout. Different from the self-built logistics mode in JD.COM, for the e-commerce express companies that grew up with Taobao, Alibaba mainly adopts equity investment.
In 213, Alibaba took the lead in setting up Cainiao, and in 216, Cainiao took the lead in setting up the "Cainiao Alliance" together with * * * such as Three Links, One Reach and Best. Ma Yun has repeatedly stated: "Ali will never do express delivery. After the' intelligent backbone network' of the rookie network is built, it will not grab the business of the express delivery company."
Ali has successively taken shares in other express delivery companies, namely: Shentong (14.65%+ about 31.35% share option), Zhongtong (8.7%), Best (about 33.%) and Yunda (2%).
Specifically, Shentong and Baishi, which are closest to Ali in terms of equity relationship, currently rank relatively low in terms of market share, rookie index and other service quality among the top six listed express delivery companies. Although Yunda Express is also a member of the "Rookie Alliance", Ali only holds 2% of its shares by buying shares of other shareholders, and has no seat on the board of directors, so his voice is the weakest.
is it necessary for Alibaba to further increase its holdings of yuantong when it is already the second largest shareholder?
Looking back at history, Yu Huijiao and Alibaba have a very close relationship:
As early as 25, Yuantong took the lead in accessing the newly established Taobao platform in the industry;
At the Rookie Global Logistics Summit in 219, Yu Huijiao revealed on the spot that Ali had consulted him when investing in other two express delivery companies, Zhongtong and Shentong.
In this way, Alibaba wants to further strengthen its ties with "rookie alliance" including Yuantong through equity investment, which is more like a strategic defense: to get ahead of competitors and seize the key express logistics resources.
apart from Baishi, Yuantong, as the first express delivery company to accept Ali's shares, once replaced Shentong as the first express delivery company in the industry market share in 215, but it was later surpassed by rivals such as Zhongtong and Yunda. Yu Huijiao once proposed that Yuantong should "start a second business" and the goal of returning to a high position is clear.
In the industry, Yuantong Express is famous for its "dare to be the first" enterprise management style: in 25, it became the first express to access Taobao platform; In 216, it became the first listed company in China express logistics industry; Through the acquisition of Hong Kong Xianda Logistics (later renamed YTO Express International), the platform of "A shares +H shares" listed companies was first established; Among the "Tongda Department" express delivery companies, Yuantong was the first to purchase all cargo planes, introduce professional managers as the company's president, and launch high-end express products at the earliest ... < P > However, Yuantong's many forward-looking measures did not get the expected return.
For example, in October 218, Yuantong took the lead in launching a brand-new high-end direct express brand "Promise Express" among the "Tongda Department" express delivery enterprises. However, one year later, this business was exposed to business suspension and team dissolution; As early as 217, Yuantong hired Deng Xiaobo, an executive of Debon and Huayu Department, as the CEO of Yuantong Express, but it was not until Deng Xiaobo left the post of vice president of Yuantong in 219 that Yuantong Express had no news.
in contrast to its competitors, such as SF Express and Zhongtong, the stratification strategy of express products is steadily advancing, and express business is becoming a new growth point of performance.
yuantong's backwardness in recent five years directly points to the internal management of the enterprise.
At present, Yu Huijiao concentrates on the duties of chairman of the board of directors, and Pan Shuimiao, a professional manager who has been a director of Yuantong for a long time and worked in Yunfeng Xinchuang, serves as the president.
This change is fed back to the performance, and Yuantong has shown a good growth momentum as a whole this year. Judging from the performance report for the first half of 22 released not long ago, Yuantong achieved an operating income of 14.581 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; Realized a net profit of 971 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.55%; The volume of express delivery business was 4.936 billion pieces, up 29.79% year-on-year, and the market share reached 14.57%, up .87 percentage points from the same period in 219.
yuantong is the only listed express delivery company except SF express that achieved a year-on-year increase in revenue and net profit in the first half of the year. In addition, in the company's business briefing in July, Yuantong's express delivery business also continued its good growth. As of the close of September 1, the circular was 16.7 yuan per share, with a total market value of 52.769 billion yuan.
Now Yuantong, which ranks third in market share, is actively catching up with Yunda, which ranks second, and the competitive pressure it faces is further highlighted. On the same day as the announcement of Ali's strategic increase, Yuantong announced that the company plans to raise RMB 4.5 billion by offering 63 million shares to 35 specific targets in a non-public way, and these funds will be invested in the construction of multi-functional network hub, the upgrading of transportation network, the improvement of information system and data capabilities and the replenishment of working capital.
capital, technology, flow ... are the key factors that will affect the future competition of enterprises, and these are the imagination space that Yuantong can bring when it accepts Alibaba's further increase.
In Yuantong's announcement, Yuantong's strategic cooperation with Ali and Cainiao focuses on globalization and digitalization.
At present, Yuantong has 12 all-cargo planes. Since the epidemic, it has deeply participated in the operation of Cainiao's global parcel network, flying Cainiao to Malaysia, Pakistan and other places for foreign trade and anti-epidemic transportation. A world-class logistics hub jointly invested by Yuantong and Cainiao in Hong Kong is also under rapid construction.
In terms of digitalization, Yuantong and Cainiao will jointly develop and operate advanced express logistics equipment, establish intelligent logistics big data applications, and further improve the digitalization and intelligence level of Yuantong's business operation. At the same time, Alibaba said that in the future, it will further support the all-round development of YTO Express with Yu Huijiao as the chairman of the board of directors, strengthen cooperation in capital, industry and technology, and promote the high-quality development of YTO Express.
At present, the growth rate of express delivery industry in China has slowed down. With the liquidation of second-and third-tier express delivery companies, the market concentration of express delivery industry has been further strengthened, and fierce industry competition has spread to head express delivery companies including Yuantong. In 22, SF Express's affiliate express delivery network "Fengwang" is ready to come out, and the extremely rabbit express (J&; T) Entering China, the e-commerce sinking strategy in JD.COM is closely related to the mass mail express network ... New entrants have added more uncertainty to the "Red Sea" market of e-commerce express.
Not long ago, JD.COM terminated its cooperation with Shentong Express on the grounds that Ali's e-commerce company did not accept Jingdong Logistics. As the layout of e-commerce for logistics became more and more in-depth, it was difficult for express delivery companies to avoid standing in line, and the group competition of "e-commerce-express delivery" became the general trend. It is not difficult to understand why Alibaba has increased its investment in these courier companies again and again.