*ST Meishang (300495.SZ), with its stock price continuously below 1 yuan per share for 20 trading days, has received a pre-termination listing notice, making its delisting a foregone conclusion.

Due to the closing price being below 1 yuan per share for 20 consecutive trading days, *ST Meishang was suspended from trading on May 9th. Based on the stock price before the suspension, its latest market value is only about 87.65 million yuan. Compared to its historical peak, 99.9% of the company's market value has evaporated. On the evening of the same day, the company received a pre-termination listing notice from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

As delisting becomes almost certain, news of the company's actual controller's family immigrating has recently fermented on social media. The company announced on the evening of the 8th that the actual controller, Wang Yingyan, is still in the country.

Behind the aforementioned public opinion fermentation is the fact that while Wang Yingyan arranged and instructed the company to engage in long-term financial fraud, she also occupied a large amount of the company's funds through related transactions, colluded with private equity to manipulate the company's stock price, and cashed out hundreds of millions through substantial share reductions.

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Delisting is a foregone conclusion. Since the beginning of this year, *ST Meishang's stock price has continued to decline. After breaking below 1 yuan per share on April 8th, it closed below 1 yuan for 20 consecutive trading days up to May 8th, with the latest closing price at 0.13 yuan per share. On the 9th, the company received a pre-termination listing notice from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

In addition to triggering the compulsory delisting index due to stock price, *ST Meishang also has violations such as information disclosure violations, financial fraud, and fraudulent issuance.

Regulatory investigations have determined that between 2012 and 2020, the company's prospectus, periodic reports, and issuance documents contained false records, with a total of 457 million yuan in net profit inflated over nine consecutive years. Additionally, the company failed to disclose related transactions and fund occupation information as required.

Post-investigation found that Wang Yingyan, the actual controller of *ST Meishang, arranged and instructed the premature recognition of receivables recovery, falsely recorded bank interest income, did not adjust project income according to the approved amount, and through related transactions and occupation of a large amount of company funds, with a cumulative amount of nearly 1 billion yuan by the end of 2020, and was fined 15.1 million yuan by the regulator and banned from the market for life; at the same time, Xu Jing was fined 530,000 yuan. In March of this year, the then CFO and 8 other individuals of the company also received regulatory penalties.

During the aforementioned period of financial fraud, Wang Yingyan also colluded with private equity to manipulate her own company's stock. The China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed in January this year that between June 12, 2018, and July 3, 2020, Wang Yingyan, in conjunction with Ji Yun (then the legal representative of Shanghai Yongshu Asset Management Co., Ltd.), controlled 113 securities accounts to trade in "Meishang Ecology".In the case, Wang Yingyan was the initiator and decision-maker of the manipulative actions, arranging transaction margins, borrowing some accounts, and entrusting Ji Yun's team to maintain the stock price. Ji Yun was primarily responsible for the implementation of the manipulative actions, including borrowing some accounts, introducing financing clients, and executing trades. During the manipulation period, the account group suffered a total loss of 238 million yuan after deducting commissions and related taxes.

The actual controller cashed out hundreds of millions of yuan.

According to the closing price on May 8, the current total market value of *ST Meishang is only 87.6563 million yuan, and the market value of over 12 billion yuan has vanished.

*ST Meishang was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market in December 2015, with an initial offering price of 31.82 yuan per share, which once soared to about 153 yuan at its peak, with a market value of over 12 billion yuan. Compared to its historical peak, the current stock price has plummeted by more than 99.9%, and the remaining market value is only about 0.01% of the peak.

After the company's delisting, how to claim compensation has become a concern for investors. "Both false statements and market manipulation are compensable, but this stock (*ST Meishang) involves many violations, and whether it can be compensated may require specific analysis," said Xu Feng, director and chief partner of Shanghai Jiucheng Law Firm, to Yicai. For such complex compensation cases, investors can also apply for the intervention of insurance institutions in related public interest litigation.

Investors suffered huge losses, but the actual controller of the company cashed out a large amount. According to the disclosure, from 2019 to 2020, Wang Yingyan alone reduced his holdings and cashed out nearly 500 million yuan, and the company's executives reduced their holdings by about 100 million yuan in total.

After entering 2021, Wang Yingyan and Xu Jing were passively reduced many times due to court enforcement. The disclosure shows that from September 2021 to January 2024, the two were passively reduced by about 100 million shares of the company, and the total reduction amount was roughly estimated to be about 200 million yuan.

In addition, the company's executives also violated regulations by reducing their holdings. In September 2021, the then executives of the company were given a warning letter by the Securities Regulatory Commission for violating regulations. According to the investigation, the shares held by Pan Naiyun, then director and deputy general manager, and Hui Feng, then deputy general manager, were forcibly liquidated on May 7 of the same year, with the number of passively reduced shares reaching 2.6408 million and 0.5537 million, respectively. After knowing the risk of liquidation, the two did not disclose the reduction plan in advance as required, violating the relevant reduction regulations.

In addition, the shares held by Xu Jing were sold at the end of September 2021 due to judicial enforcement, with a transaction amount of 8.2925 million yuan, and the number of shares was 2.9976 million. However, the passive reduction of his shares occurred within 30 days before the announcement of the company's third quarter report in 2021. Wang Yingyan was given a regulatory letter by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in December of the same year for failing to supervise his spouse Xu Jing's compliance with the trading of *ST Meishang shares.

Wind data shows that as of the first quarter of this year, Wang Yingyan holds 120 million shares of *ST Meishang, with a shareholding ratio of 17.87%. The company has a total of 21,000 shareholders, with an average shareholding market value of 32,400 yuan per household, and the top ten shareholders hold a shareholding ratio of 33.35%.