China’s Tsinghua Unigroup has rejected criticism of the president and defended a restructuring plan against Reuters

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Tsinghua Unigroup’s debt-ridden Chinese chip conglomerate has been slammed by a foreign-backed buyout, a senior foreign official said on Thursday night that even large investors had spread “false information” and defended his restructuring plan. .

In a statement released on Unigroup’s public social media account, attributed solely to Unigroup’s management, the company directly linked its debt situation to the leadership of Zhao Weiguo, who led a wave of asset purchases over the past decade.

Zhao has retained the presidency, but the Chinese Council of State has appointed a working group to take over the leadership of the company after the failure of the bonds in November 2020.

Zhao announced in a personal investment vehicle in Beijing Jiankun that after a day’s notice, Beijing Jianguang Asset Management (JAC Capital) and Wise Road Capital, two state-backed companies, were ready to acquire Unigroup, underestimating their assets. arguing that they were.

Zhao’s Beijing Jiankun holds a 49% stake in Unigroup, with the rest held by China’s elite Tsinghua University. Over the past decade, with government funding, Unigroup has created a stake in a number of Chinese chip companies.

In its release, Unigroup’s management said that the value of Zhaok’s stake in Unigroup had turned negative through Beijing Jiankun, and after several rounds of strategic investor bids, the highest bids “still cannot cover all of Tsinghua Unigroup’s debts.”

Unigroup’s management said it was “firm” in its efforts to “obstruct and disrupt Zhao’s reorganization of the judicial process” and “take steps to ensure that the legal responsibilities of the persons concerned are met by law.”

The company added that the vote on the investment, which is being processed, will take place on December 29.

Beijing Jiankun did not respond to a request for an e-mail.