Behind the continuous rise in the ST stock market, there were illegal repurchases and suspected speculation.

On January 17, *ST Meisheng issued an announcement stating that it had received a letter of concern from the Management Department of Companies Listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

According to the announcement, on January 16, *ST Meisheng repurchased 1 million shares for the first time at a price of 1.37 yuan/share through centralized bidding.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange pointed out that *ST Meisheng purchased at the same day's rising and closing prices, and was suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the “Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Listed Companies No. 9 - Repurchase Shares (2023 Revision)”.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange said it will take further regulatory measures and requested*ST Meisheng to conduct a thorough self-inspection of recent repurchase account transactions and explain whether there are any other illegal violations.

Earlier, on January 12, *ST Meisheng recorded a drop in the word “1” and immediately launched a share repurchase plan with a repurchase amount of 40 million to 80 million yuan and a repurchase price of no more than 2.35 yuan/share after the market. The repurchased shares were used for future equity incentives or employee stock ownership plans.

In fact, the “star-clad hat” *ST Meisheng is not well-funded.

As of June 6, 2022, due to capital usage issues, *ST Meisheng shares have been subject to additional risk warnings.

Up to now, Meisheng Holding Group Co., Ltd., the controlling shareholder of the company, has illegally occupied the balance of funds of 770 million yuan. As of the first three quarters of 2023, *ST Meisheng's monetary capital was only 248 million yuan at the end of the period.

On January 15, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a “Letter of Concern” requesting that *ST Meisheng check and explain in detail the reason and background of this repurchase plan, taking into account the company's operating conditions such as losses for three consecutive years, and explain whether it has the ability to repurchase and whether the implementation of the relevant repurchase plan is feasible.

Prior to the announcement of the repurchase plan, within 7 trading days from January 4 to 12, *ST Meisheng fell by 21.02% and closed at a phased low of 1.24 yuan/share on January 12. If the stock price falls below 1 yuan, there is a possibility that the delisting mechanism will be triggered.

After the buyback plan was launched, *ST Meisheng's stock price rose in response from January 13 to 17, achieving a “triple board”, with a cumulative increase of 16.13%. It was also at this point that the Shenzhen Stock Exchange indicated that *ST Meisheng's repurchase operation was suspected of being illegal.

According to the Dragon Tiger List from January 16 to January 17, *ST Meisheng's top four buying seats were Dongcai Lhasa Sales Department, namely Dongcai Lhasa Tuanjie Road First Securities Sales Department, Lhasa Tuanjie Road Second Securities Sales Department, Lhasa Donghuan Road Second Sales Office, and Jiangsu Avenue Securities Sales Department in Dongcheng District of Lhasa. The four companies had a total net purchase of 2.265,700 yuan.

The sales department mentioned above is a common seat for investors. It has been very active on the A-share Dragon Tiger List in recent years, and is known as the “Lhasa Gang” in the industry. Earlier, it is suspected that the Lhasa Gang also participated in the 2023 IPO fixed profit (301487.SZ) hype, which rose more than 17 times on the first day of listing.

On January 18, the “Letter of Concern” failed to quench the enthusiasm of the tourist hype * ST Meisheng. *ST Meisheng opened and fell to a halt, but rose and stopped again before noon trading, achieving a “quadruple market”. The intraday closing price was 1.51 yuan/share, with a total market value of 1,373 billion yuan.