At the age of 48, he officially took charge of the 113.2 billion Gree.

Wen | Rongzhong Finance

Without Gree Group in Dong Mingzhu, the coach has changed.

On February 19th, Zhuhai Gree Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gree Group") announced that Kang Hong was appointed Party Secretary and Chairman of the Company according to the relevant notice of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government. Zhaomin Li is the deputy secretary and director of the Party Committee of the company; Hu Chuanwei is the director and president of the company; Huang Jianyong, Cheng Min and Chen En are vice presidents of the company.

At the same time, Zhou Lewei no longer serves as the company’s chairman, director, party secretary and member, and Zhaomin Li no longer serves as the company’s vice president. In this regard, Gree Group stated that the above personnel changes are normal personnel adjustments and have no adverse impact on the company’s daily management, production and operation and solvency. This personnel change does not affect the validity of the resolutions passed by the board of directors of the company. The corporate governance structure still conforms to the laws and articles of association.

Interestingly, there is not much to pay attention to in general internal personnel changes, but this time the personnel changes of Gree Group have caused a heated discussion on the Internet. The reason is that many onlookers confuse "Gree Group" with "Gree Electric".

In the topic of "Gree Group welcomes new chairman" on the hot search list of social media platforms, many unsuspecting netizens couldn’t help asking, "What about Dong Mingzhu?" But what needs to be clarified is that "Gree Group ≠ Gree Electric". According to the appointment notice of "Dong Mingzhu is the chairman of Gree Electric for three years" announced by Gree Electric in February 2020, Dong Mingzhu is still the chairman of Gree Electric, and it has nothing to do with the appointment and dismissal of Gree Group.

Gree Group, which has no "successor" or "flow", has gradually grown into a force to be reckoned with in the venture capital circle. According to the latest news, Gree Gold Investment and Gree Production Investment, two professional investment platforms of Gree Group’s industrial investment plate, were both shortlisted in the "Rongzhong 2023 China Equity Investment List".

As the first state-owned capital investment operation platform in Zhuhai, Gree Group is on the way to becoming a state-owned capital investment operation platform, running all the way.

01 "Post-75" took over Gree Group.

Kang Hong officially performed his duties before Gree Group announced the appointment and dismissal of personnel.

In the last news of Gree Group in official website on February 10th, it was clearly mentioned that "On the eve of the Spring Festival, Kang Hong, Party Secretary and Chairman of Gree Group, led a team to Zhuhai 12-inch TSV three-dimensional integrated production base, the first phase, and Gechuang No.1 and other group projects under construction to conduct research, supervise the pre-holiday safety production work on the spot, and send warm-hearted condolences to the frontline construction personnel."

At the same time of the announcement, the column of "Management Team" in official website of Gree Group has also presented the latest team list of the Group.

Figure/Gree Group official website Rongzhong Finance screenshot

Kang Hong, who succeeded Zhou Lewei this time, worked in Hengqin, Zhuhai for many years.

According to public information, Kang Hong was born in Peng ‘an, Sichuan Province in 1976 and was admitted to Sun Yat-sen University in 1996. Since coming to Guangdong to study in 1996, Kang Hong has been closely tied up with Guangdong, a coastal city in South China.

In 2000, Kang Hong, who graduated from Sun Yat-sen University, joined Guangzhou Overseas Students Pioneer Park Co., Ltd. During his three years of work, Kang Hong was promoted from the initial administrative assistant to the manager of business development department. In 2003, he joined the Guangzhou University Town Construction Headquarters as the comprehensive secretary of the office. Since then, Kang Hong has worked all the way from the grassroots level, and has served as deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee of the Office and deputy director of the General Department. Later, in 2007, he entered the management office of key public construction projects in Guangzhou, and successively served as deputy director of comprehensive management department, secretary of the office youth league Committee, deputy director of planning and coordination department, and secretary of the youth league Committee.

From 2000 to 2010, this is Kang Hong’s first decade of work, and it is also his "Guangzhou Decade". Since 2010, it has been Kang Hong’s "Zhuhai Decade".

Since 2010, Kang Hong has successively served as deputy director of Zhuhai Hengqin New Area Coordinated Development Committee, director of Hengqin New Area Development and Reform Bureau, director of Hengqin New Area Commerce Bureau and deputy director of Hengqin New Area Management Committee.

In 2021, he served as the Deputy Secretary-General of Zhuhai Municipal Government (director level). In April of the same year, Kang Hong, as a cadre appointed by the Central Organization Department, went to xiong’an new area to take up his post and exercise, and served as the deputy general manager of China Xiong ‘an Group Urban Development Investment Co., Ltd. and the deputy director of Xiong ‘an District Management Committee of China (Hebei) Pilot Free Trade Zone, responsible for the construction of provincial key projects such as Rongdong ‘an Housing Group G, Xiong ‘an Business Service Center and Xiong ‘an International Hotel, and was in charge of property management in resettlement areas.

Kang Hong, who has experienced the whole development process of Guangzhou University Town and Zhuhai Hengqin New District, has also done a lot of work for the construction of Xiong ‘an in Hebei during his three years. In the fiery project site, the heavy anti-epidemic front line, the relocation site of Rongdong ‘an house, and the commercial investment of Huawangcheng, Kang Hong’s struggle story was left.

After returning to Zhuhai from Xiong ‘an, Kang Hong attended the Greater Bay Area Large-scale Infrastructure Project Management Innovation Exchange Conference held in Zhuhai in December 2023 as "Deputy Secretary-General of Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government". In his speech at the meeting, he pointed out, "As one of the important window cities of China’s reform and opening up, Zhuhai has always attached great importance to the management innovation of urban infrastructure projects. This exchange meeting will be held in Zhuhai, which will further promote Zhuhai’s in-depth implementation of the new development concept, fully implement the requirements of high-quality development throughout the whole process of large-scale infrastructure projects, and significantly enhance Zhuhai’s position and role in regional development. "

However, after this meeting, Kang Hong appeared in public again and became the "Party Secretary and Chairman of Gree Group".

Gree, an asset of 0.2 billion yuan, has been crazy in VC circle.

The Gree Group, which is easily confused with Dong Mingzhu’s "Gree Electric", is actually related to the past.

For a long time in the past, Gree Group was the major shareholder of Gree Electric. However, after the state-owned enterprises reformed and sold 15% shares of Gree Electric to Gaoyang Capital in 2019, Gree Group only left about 3% shares of Gree Electric. Since then, the major shareholder of Gree Electric has become Gaoyou Capital, and Gree Group has gradually transformed into a state-owned capital investment platform.

It can even be said that the divestiture of Gree Electric in 2019 also pressed the acceleration button for Gree Group’s transformation investment platform.

As we all know, the relationship between Gree Group and Zhuhai is inseparable. Gree Group, established in March 1985, is the only municipal state-owned enterprise with manufacturing genes in Zhuhai. At the end of 2016, Gree Group started a new journey of "second venture" and made every effort to promote the pilot reform of state-owned capital investment and operation companies. It has gradually formed a "five-in-one" comprehensive development pattern with "scientific and technological innovation" as the core and "capital operation+industrial investment+industrial introduction+carrier construction+service operation" as the main line.

At this point, Gree Group has also become the first state-owned capital investment operation platform in Zhuhai, with the main credit rating of AAA, and its business covers industrial investment, construction investment, urban renewal, construction and installation, service operation and other fields. Won the title of "Guangdong key state-owned enterprise management improvement benchmark to create a benchmark enterprise for action" and "Guangdong advanced collective for poverty alleviation".

By the end of 2023, the total assets of Gree Group exceeded 113.2 billion yuan, and the total owner’s equity exceeded 48.3 billion yuan, and the overall operating situation achieved steady and good development.

Gree Group, with hundreds of billions of assets, may be easily confused in the minds of most netizens, but few people admit their mistakes in the venture capital circle. After all, Gree Group has been "crazy" in the venture capital circle in recent years.

More recently, at the beginning of 2024, Gree Group added an IPO to its 2024 annual report card.

On January 24th, "Shengjingwei", the invested enterprise of Gree Group and the leading electronic control module in domestic blasting field, was successfully listed on the main board of Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the first semiconductor company to land on the main board of Shanghai in 2024, with an issue price of 38.18 yuan/share and a closing market value of 5.934 billion yuan on the first day. According to Rongzhong Finance, after the listing of Shengjingwei, the number of "listed legions" currently invested and cultivated by Gree Group has expanded to 76.

It has a large-scale "listed legion" Gree Group, mainly relying on its two professional investment platforms, Gree Gold Investment and Gree Production Investment. The two investment platforms focus on key areas and key links of scientific and technological innovation, invest in different tracks and different life cycles, and continue to empower Zhuhai to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system supported by new quality productivity. Among them, "Gree Golden Investment" mainly invests in the introduction of mid-and late-stage projects, focusing on promoting the industrial pillar projects to take root; "Gree Production and Investment" focuses on "early investment and small investment and innovation" to help Zhuhai accelerate the realization of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.

Specifically, Gree Gold Investment anchors the strategic emerging industries and future industries that Zhuhai will focus on, and makes investment layout around key links and key areas in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and is committed to building a four-in-one industrial investment ecosystem of "promoting investment with investment+promoting production with investment+promoting transformation with investment+promoting innovation with investment". At present, the company has invested in 608 industrial projects with a total investment of about 44.326 billion yuan through "direct investment+fund", and introduced and cultivated 92 major projects such as listed companies, leading enterprises, chain owners and high-tech enterprises for Zhuhai through "direct investment+fund". At the same time, "investment to promote production" has helped many local high-quality enterprises such as Hangyuwei, Zhuhai Guanyu, INBOR and Nastar to grow continuously.

Gree Production Investment Co., Ltd. is driven by industry research, focusing on the leading role of state-owned venture capital in the early stage of market failure, deeply laying out the key core technology areas of future industrial upgrading and innovative industries with subversive and leading characteristics, and introducing and cultivating nearly 70 "hard technology" projects for Zhuhai, of which the A-round and previous projects account for nearly 90%, and 80% of the projects are invested within 3 years after the company was registered; 9 Zhuhai unicorn warehousing enterprises, 25 national high-tech enterprises and nearly 20 specialized and special new enterprises were introduced and cultivated; The refinancing rate of invested projects exceeds 60%, and nearly 40% of the projects have doubled their valuations.

Industry is the foundation to promote development, and investment leads to strong empowerment. As Gree Group said, Gree Group will continue to fulfill its responsibilities as an investor, pay close attention to and actively support the capital market performance and industrial landing demand of listed companies such as Sheng Jingwei, and help them to continuously enhance their market competitiveness. At the same time, it will focus on the strategic emerging industries and future industrial directions that Zhuhai will focus on, and the "combination of investment and introduction" will drive more high-quality industrial projects and resource elements to gather in Zhuhai, so as to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system supported by new quality productivity and erect the industrial backbone of Zhuhai’s modernization.

03 Zhuhai Venture Capital sees Gree.

In recent years, under the tide of attracting investment from capital and accelerating the development of new economy, and with the strong support and advocacy of governments at all levels, the government has guided the fund to blossom in an all-round way, injecting "flowing water" of financial services into the local real economy. As the first state-owned capital investment and operation platform in Zhuhai, Gree Group has a closer relationship with Zhuhai under the wave of funds guided by local governments.

Since its first establishment in 2017, Zhuhai Fund has become an important force for financial support for high-quality economic development. In July 2023, Zhuhai issued the "Plan for the Establishment of Zhuhai Development Investment Fund Phase III", which clearly defined that the existing municipal government investment funds will be integrated and the Zhuhai Development Investment Fund Phase III will be established, so as to further play the guiding role of the government industrial investment funds and anchor the long-term industrial development strategic objectives, adhere to the manufacturing industry as the master and focus on "industry first". Accelerate the construction of "4+3" pillar industrial clusters (namely, the four leading industries of new generation information technology, new energy, integrated circuits, biomedicine and health, and the three dominant industries of smart home appliances, equipment manufacturing and fine chemicals), and build a modern international special economic zone in Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era with high quality.

Zhuhai has made it clear that the third phase of Zhuhai Development Investment Fund with a total scale of 10 billion yuan will be funded by the municipal finance, and the new model of "parent fund+direct investment" will focus on the frontier innovative industries that are in line with Zhuhai’s industrial planning direction and national strategy.

After public selection, Zhuhai was clearly entrusted by Gree Group to manage the venture capital fund, focusing on supporting and cultivating angel projects and talent innovation and entrepreneurship projects, and creating a "new engine" for Zhuhai to accelerate the formation of new quality productivity and build a trillion-dollar modern industrial system.

Gree Group can pass the selection without its own key advantages. As the first state-owned capital investment operation platform in the city and the only state-owned enterprise with manufacturing genes in the city, Gree Group has successfully established a number of "fund jungles" covering government guidance funds, industrial funds, parent funds, M&A funds, S funds and special funds, and built a "full life cycle" industrial investment service system covering initial stage, growth stage and maturity stage.

Since 2023, Gree Group has acted more frequently in the field of venture capital.

In February 2023, Zhuhai Gechuang Future Industrial Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) was established, with Hengqin Jintou Industrial Investment Fund Management Co., Ltd. as the executive partner, with a capital contribution of 500 million yuan. In April of the same year, Zhuhai Gejin Pioneer No.1 Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) was established. The executive partner was Guangzhou Pioneer New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 50 million yuan. The partnership was jointly held by Gree Jintou affiliated companies Zhuhai Gejin New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Zhuhai Xingge Capital Investment Co., Ltd.

After a lapse of one month, in May, 2023, Gree Group, together with representatives of Seine Technology and Zhengfang Group, signed the "Zhuhai Seine Yongying Phase I Venture Capital Fund" agreement. The total scale of this fund is planned to be 800 million yuan, which was initiated by Seine in Zhuhai, and Gree Gold Investment, a subsidiary of Gree Group, invested 150 million yuan and participated in the management, focusing on incubating laser printing, 3D printing, printing consumables, integrated circuits and related upstream and downstream industries to help Zhuhai’s high-end printing equipment industry.

….. The above list is very long, which is not enough to summarize the grand occasion of Gree Group in the venture capital circle.

Gree Group has not forgotten its mission of "industrial investment sector". It said that "the industrial investment sector insists on serving the real economy, closely follows the development requirements of’ industry comes first, manufacturing is the master’, takes industrial investment as the core, takes investment funds, capital operation, financing guarantee and other businesses as the strategic support, actively practices the responsibility mission of’ serving the real economy of the special zone and helping Zhuhai to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system’, and strives to inject strong momentum into Zhuhai’s industrial transformation and upgrading and high-quality economic development with enabling investment."

At present, Gree Group’s industrial investment sector has cooperated closely with many head institutions such as Shenzhen Venture Capital, China Resources Capital, Xiaomi Group, China Electric Branch, Guangfa Shunde, etc., anchoring the main direction of "4+3" industry, and striving to become a promoter of Zhuhai’s industrial introduction and upgrading, a new engine for building a modern industrial system and a first-class innovative state-owned enterprise with specialization, marketization, characteristics and branding by building a "full life cycle" industrial investment service system.

Gree Group, which "fought" at home in Zhuhai, has made many achievements, but the story of Gree Group is still going on, and we also look forward to what surprises Gree Group under Kang Hong can bring.