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Apollo Smart Travel Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "APollo Travel") announced that due to other business factors such as volatile global market conditions and geopolitical conflicts, continued uncertainty in financial markets and short-term economic recovery after the epidemic, the parties concerned had agreed to terminate the acquisition agreement and therefore the acquisition and placement would not take place.

Backdoor listing has become the only chance for Weimar to "survive". On January 11, APOLLO disclosed a major acquisition announcement that the company intends to acquire the entire issued share capital of WM Motor Global Investment Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weimar Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Weimar"), for US $2.023 billion (about HK $15.854 billion) and will settle the matter by allocating 28.8 billion shares at HK $0.55 per share.

According to the APOLLO travel announcement, the company will place 7.123 billion shares at a price of no less than HK $0.55 each. The total proceeds from the placement are expected to be about HK $3.918 billion and the net fund-raising is estimated to be about HK $3.526 billion. APOLLO, a smart travel service provider, had a market capitalization of HK $2.788 billion before the announcement, and the IPO is equivalent to 5.7 times the market capitalization of listed companies. Before the deal, Weimar had a 23.67% stake in APOLLO. After the rights issue and acquisition, Weimar holds 31.1 billion shares in the listed company, and the share share will rise to 80.91%.

The acquisition means a lot to Weimar. It is understood that Weima Motor has submitted forms to Science and Technology Innovation Board and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for listing, but they all ended in failure. In the fruitless state of IPO, backdoor has become the only choice for Weima Motor to go public, and with the termination of this acquisition, the hope of Weima Motor listing will basically come to an end. Of course, even if the reverse acquisition of Weima Motor is successful, it is also unknown whether it will be able to raise funds in the secondary market. After all, the risk of investing in Weima Automobile far outweighs the opportunity, and now Weima Automobile has obviously lost its last "lifesaver". For Weima Motor, which has long been in operational crisis, its survival will also face more uncertainty.

At present, what Weimar needs most is still money. According to the prospectus, Weima Motor's net losses during the three years from 2019 to 2021 were 4.445 billion yuan, 5.084 billion yuan and 8.205 billion yuan respectively, with a total loss of 17.4 billion yuan over the three-year period. As of March 31, 2022, Weimar's remaining cash and cash equivalents were 3.678 billion yuan, while wage cuts and layoffs, factory shutdowns, and rent arrears in headquarters buildings all revealed that Weimar's finances were stretched.

Starting from the second half of 2022, Weimar began to be exposed that the store was closed in a large area. In November 2022, Weimar was exposed to a pay cut in order to reduce operating costs. In February this year, Weima was revealed to be in arrears with employees' wages, and employees went to the factory gate to pull banners to protect their rights after asking for wages in vain, and then the relevant departments intervened to investigate the matter.

It's like an endless cycle. After the financial crisis, the Weima car factory was forced to stop production because it was unable to pay its suppliers and there were no orders, and more and more employees had to leave to find a new way out. With the deepening of the Weimar crisis, its stores have been closed in many provinces and cities across the country. Car owners want repairs but can not find stores, and even if they find stores, they have to wait a long time for spare parts. Nowadays, it is not only Weimar, but also suppliers who are in arrears, employees who have been unable to get their wages, and car owners who have failed to find parts and repairs. After entering 2023, Weimar Motor and related companies have been frozen and listed as executors many times, and Shen Hui has even been restricted from high consumption.

Nowadays, the competition in the new energy vehicle industry has entered a white-hot stage, and more and more brands begin to have a crisis. On July 21, Sichuan Mustang Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Mustang Motor") added a bankruptcy review case. The applicant was Chongqing Senmai Auto parts Co., Ltd., and the handling court was the people's Court of Longquanyi District, Chengdu. In addition, including Skyline, Aichi, Singularity and Baiteng have also stopped production this year, which is no different from Weimar.

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