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<ul>
 <li>
<a href="https://smartkarma.com/entities/mie-holdings-corp">MIE Holdings</a> is a distressed upstream oil and gas operator that has significantly narrowed its operational focus to a single asset in China, the Daan oilfield, after divesting its interests in Kazakhstan and other Chinese projects.</li>
 <li>The company is in a precarious financial position, characterized by a history of significant net losses, negative shareholder equity, a substantial debt burden that necessitated a major restructuring, and a reliance on a single customer, PetroChina.</li>
 <li>Trading of the company's shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has been suspended since April 2023, reflecting severe financial distress and raising significant concerns about its viability as a going concern.</li>
</ul>This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.


  
MIE Holdings is a distressed upstream oil and gas operator that has significantly narrowed its operational focus to a single asset in China, the Daan oilfield, after divesting its interests in Kazakhstan and other Chinese projects.
  The company is in a precarious financial position, characterized by a history of significant net losses, negative shareholder equity, a substantial debt burden that necessitated a major restructuring, and a reliance on a single customer, PetroChina.
  Trading of the company's shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has been suspended since April 2023, reflecting severe financial distress and raising significant concerns about its viability as a going concern.
This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.

Primer: MIE Holdings (1555 HK) - Aug 2026

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

David Blennerhassett

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

China CITIC Financial Asset Management / Equity Bottom-Up

China CITIC Financial Asset Management (2799 HK)

The irony.
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-huarong-asset-management" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:968:1" rel="noopener">China Huarong Asset Management (2799 HK)</a> was originally set up in 1999 by Beijing, in response to the Asian financial crisis,  to bail out a State-owned bank - ICBC - before listing. Rumours abound the State may resort to bailing out Huarong or risk a domino effect of losses at other (state-owned) entities which have lent to Huarong.
The bailer becomes the bailee?
Huarong's woes are not new. Its chairman, Lai Xiaomin was placed under investigation for graft in April 2018, following which he resigned for "<a href="https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2018/0420/ltn20180420033.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">personal reasons</a>". 
Shortly after, Hong Kong's SFC froze HK$10.17bn of assets in three brokers - this amount is the loss incurred by Huarong. In the SFC's words, a certain person "orchestrated fraudulent schemes by colluding with certain personnel of the management of a listed company [Huarong] or its subsidiaries in 2 suspicious transactions stemming from a loan facility indirectly granted to the Person by the listed company".
Fast forward to the 29 January this year wherein Lai Xiaomin was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-huarong-lai/former-china-huarong-chairman-executed-after-bribery-conviction-idUSKBN29Y1P2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executed</a> in what Bloomberg (perhaps) sardonically concluded was an unusually harsh sentence for a bribery conviction. 
Huarong has been <a href="https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2021/0401/2021033101720.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> since the 1 April 2021 after failing to despatch its 2020 annual report. In Hong Kong, companies are afforded three months from year-end to do so.
Huarong is not alone - at least 50 Hong Kong-listed companies have failed to report earnings on the March 31 deadline. Last year, 384 Hong Kong companies did not publish annual results by March 31, but were able to continue trading after the exchange and markets regulator relaxed the rules due to the pandemic. This year there was no such arrangement.
But Huarong has come under pressure following a commentary from Caixin Media of a possible bankruptcy. In a commentary dated on Monday, Ling Huawei, managing editor of Caixin Media and Caixin Weekly, discussed the possibility of a China Huarong bankruptcy. “As of mid-2020, Huarong had 160 billion yuan [$20 billion] in net assets, and more than 30 billion yuan in loan-loss provisions,” she wrote “Huarong needs to be thoroughly recapitalised and have the value of its nonperforming assets correctly recalculated. It needs to take a big bath."
The yield on Huarong's US$300mn 3.375% bond due May 2022 has blown out to 23%. 
This has all the hallmarks of the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/china-evergrande-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:479:1" rel="noopener">Evergrande Real Estate Group (3333 HK)</a> situation in September last year covered by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/travis-lundy" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="accounts:25" rel="noopener">Travis Lundy</a> in <a href="https://skr.ma/UvXgU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evergrande May Be Facing a Funding Squeeze</a>.
The equity here, as might be expected, is the riskier option if the company goes bust. Yet a systematic restructuring process is a more likely outcome here.
Creditors are also often protected but this situation will test both state support of an SOE and how keepwell agreements are treated. The offshore bonds at ~70c look interesting.

The irony.
China Huarong Asset Management (2799 HK) was originally set up in 1999 by Beijing, in response to the Asian financial crisis,  to bail out a State-owned bank - ICBC - before listing. Rumours abound the State may resort to bailing out Huarong or risk a domino effect of losses at other (state-owned) entities which have lent to Huarong.
The bailer becomes the bailee?
Huarong's woes are not new. Its chairman, Lai Xiaomin was placed under investigation for graft in April 2018, following which he resigned for "personal reasons". 
Shortly after, Hong Kong's SFC froze HK$10.17bn of assets in three brokers - this amount is the loss incurred by Huarong. In the SFC's words, a certain person "orchestrated fraudulent schemes by colluding with certain personnel of the management of a listed company [Huarong] or its subsidiaries in 2 suspicious transactions stemming from a loan facility indirectly granted to the Person by the listed company".
Fast forward to the 29 January this year wherein Lai Xiaomin was executed in what Bloomberg (perhaps) sardonically concluded was an unusually harsh sentence for a bribery conviction. 
Huarong has been suspended since the 1 April 2021 after failing to despatch its 2020 annual report. In Hong Kong, companies are afforded three months from year-end to do so.
Huarong is not alone - at least 50 Hong Kong-listed companies have failed to report earnings on the March 31 deadline. Last year, 384 Hong Kong companies did not publish annual results by March 31, but were able to continue trading after the exchange and markets regulator relaxed the rules due to the pandemic. This year there was no such arrangement.
But Huarong has come under pressure following a commentary from Caixin Media of a possible bankruptcy. In a commentary dated on Monday, Ling Huawei, managing editor of Caixin Media and Caixin Weekly, discussed the possibility of a China Huarong bankruptcy. “As of mid-2020, Huarong had 160 billion yuan [$20 billion] in net assets, and more than 30 billion yuan in loan-loss provisions,” she wrote “Huarong needs to be thoroughly recapitalised and have the value of its nonperforming assets correctly recalculated. It needs to take a big bath."
The yield on Huarong's US$300mn 3.375% bond due May 2022 has blown out to 23%. 
This has all the hallmarks of the Evergrande Real Estate Group (3333 HK) situation in September last year covered by Travis Lundy in Evergrande May Be Facing a Funding Squeeze.
The equity here, as might be expected, is the riskier option if the company goes bust. Yet a systematic restructuring process is a more likely outcome here.
Creditors are also often protected but this situation will test both state support of an SOE and how keepwell agreements are treated. The offshore bonds at ~70c look interesting.

China Huarong Asset Management (2799 HK): This Is Manageable

Hong Kong

MIE Holdings is an oil and gas provider focused on the exploration, development, production, and sale of crude oil and natural gas. The company operates oil and gas blocks in China, Kazakhstan, and Canada. It was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Hong Kong.

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MIE Holdings (1555 HK)

Primer: MIE Holdings (1555 HK) - Aug 2026

MIE Holdings is a distressed upstream oil and gas operator that has significantly narrowed its operational focus to a single asset in China,...

αSK Primers

China Huarong Asset Management (2799 HK): This Is Manageable

With the benefit of the restructuring of Boashang, Anbang, and Evergrown Bank, China has developed a mature process to address a situation such as...

David Blennerhassett

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