By SUN Yizhen

The 3.5 billion Minsheng Securities shares owned by Oceanwide Holdings went under the hammer Wednesday. They were bought by Wuxi Guolian Development Group for 9.1 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion). 

Wuxi Guolian is now the major shareholder of Minsheng Securities, holding 30.3 percent of the finance house. Guolian outbid Soochow Securities and Zheshang Securities after a 162-round bidding war conducted on JD.com’s auction platform.

Shares in Guolian Group’s subsidiary Guolian Securities closed up 5.8 percent at 11.01 yuan today, having surged nearly 9 percent at one point.

Minsheng provides brokerage, underwriting and other financial services. In 2021, Minsheng Securities completed 31 IPOs and 18 fundraisings, bringing in 2 billion yuan. Oceanwide took over Minsheng in 2014. 

Oceanwide is facing a serious debt problem. Creditors gained court approval last month to sell the stake In Minsheng to recover the debt. The money from the sale will go to Shandong Expressway, owed 1.2 billion yuan by Oceanwide.

China Oceanwide Holdings, the developer’s Hong Kong unit, last month warned of possible losses of up to HK$2.7 billion (US$340 million, 2.4 billion yuan) for 2022, on top of a HK$5.4 billion loss in 2021.