Leshi Holding May Repay Listed LeEco Unit Using Stakes in Car Companies
Xu Wei
DATE:  Jan 23 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Leshi Holding May Repay Listed LeEco Unit Using Stakes in Car Companies Leshi Holding May Repay Listed LeEco Unit Using Stakes in Car Companies

(Yicai Global) Jan. 23 -- Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. said today that it supports a plan for Leshi Holding Beijing Co. to use non-cash assets to pay back money it owes the listed LeEco unit.

Leshi Holding could use shares in automobile companies (including Faraday & Future Inc., Lucid Motors Inc. and Leshi Automobile) to repay its debt, Leshi Internet said.

Leshi Internet and Leshi Holding may need to reconcile bookkeeping discrepancies, as the former may have overstated the amount Leshi Holding and its affiliates owe the listed arm.

Leshi Holding said on WeChat yesterday that it worked with its debt team to estimate how much those units owe Leshi Internet, and their preliminary accounting showed a balance of CNY6 billion (USD938 million).

Leshi Internet had said on Jan. 19 that affiliates controlled by LeEco founder Jia Yueting owed it more than CNY7.5 billion as of Nov. 30, 2017.

Debt issues forced Leshi Internet to stop investing in the group's film production and distribution division after courts froze its parent firm's equity in the division.

Leshi Holding's 21.8-percent stake in Le Vision Pictures is still frozen as the holding firm looks to settle its swamp of debts. The parent company owes the film unit CNY1.7 billion.

Jia and his companies have been embroiled in controversy since the LeEco conglomerate approached rock bottom last year, amassing debts of over CNY20 billion. They have been on the receiving end of several lawsuits after missing repayments, and Chinese courts have labeled Jia a "dishonest debtor" for not repaying loans he can afford to.

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Keywords:   Jia Yueting,Leshi,FF