(Yicai Global) Aug. 4 -- Senior management at China's consumer electronics maker Coolpad Group Ltd. [HKG:02369] have refused to comment on reports that its majority stakeholder, the financially troubled conglomerate Leshi Holding (Beijing) Co., known by the LeEco brand, could soon sell its shares to a real estate company based in the southern city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

The firm could shift its core business toward the property development field, while overseas businesses would remain unchanged, the rumors suggested. The company's senior management could also undergo a major reshuffle.

"[I] can't say anything now," Liu Jiangfeng, Coolpad's chief executive told Yicai Global yesterday, "No comments, because we can't say anything as a listed company."

Cellphone business restructuring at Leshi Holding is a good thing for Coolpad, Liu explained. "Everything is possible," he said when asked about the possibility of changes at senior manager-level.

Coolpad has been seeking new development opportunities for a while, it stated on its official website, adding that the firm is preparing for an asset reorganization. However, the website said that the alleged business transition toward real estate development was completely baseless.

Leshi Holding, listed as Leshi Internet Information and Technology Corp. [SHE:300104], held talks with multiple property enterprises last month including China Evergrande Group (HKG:3333) and Country Garden Holdings Co. (HKG:2007), a source close to Coolpad told Yicai Global.

Sunac China Holdings Ltd. [HKG:1918] could also take over Coolpad either by itself or in partnership with private developer Kingkey Group Co., the source added.

Sunac was unavailable for comment, while a manager at Kingkey told reporters that he had not heard of any such plan. "If Leshi Holding decides to sell them, it'll help ease the cash flow difficulty at the company," the source said, adding that Coolpad's other shareholders are not fully convinced by the plan, and no agreement has been reached.

For real estate developers, acquiring a company like Coolpad will not lead to any synergistic benefits, said a real estate expert, so the objective is solely to acquire land parcels that the Shenzhen-based company recently acquired for CNY10 billion (USD1.48 billion).

A capital injection alone would not give a property company the right to take over the land resources. "It would be very difficult to change the designated purpose of lands earmarked for technology research, but those allocated for the Coolpad cyber-port development could be designated for industrial development," the expert added.

Coolpad was once one of the four most popular Chinese smartphone brands, but its market share has declined in recent years. Leshi's subsidiary became the second largest shareholder in Coolpad in June 2015, and then became the firm's majority shareholder in August 2016 when it increased its shareholding to 28.87 percent.

Jia Yueting, Leshi's founder, once said that he would increase the combined smartphone sales at the two companies to 100 million units within two years. However, Coolpad's capitalization has since plunged to HKD3.6 billion (USD460 million).

Shenzhen Stock Exchange removed its shares from the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect on July 11 and three days later, a mainland fund company lowered Coolpad's valuation by as much as 85 percent.