| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Oil and gas,Financial services |
| Fate | Bankrupted[1] |
| Headquarters | Shanghai,China |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Revenue |  CN¥263 billion (2015)[3] |
Number of employees | 30,000 (2015)[3] |
| Website | http://www.cefc.co |
CEFC China Energy (Chinese:中国华信能源) was a Chineseconglomerate. The company was among the 10 largest private companies in China in 2014.[4] In 2017, the company was listed as 222 on theFortune Global 500.[5] In March 2020, the company—along with its subsidiaries CEFC Shanghai International and CEFC Hainan International—was declaredbankrupt.[1] The company used a complex web of affiliated companies to facilitate fake deals, inflate trade figures, and obtainbank loans to fuel its aggressive expansion.[6]
In 2014, the company generated revenue mainly fromoil and gas (60%) andfinancial services (25%).[3] It also operated in a wide range of other sectors like transport infrastructure,forestry,asset management, hotel management, warehousing services,real estate development andlogistics services.[2] A large portion of CEFC's assets were concentrated in overseas markets.[2]
The controlling shareholder of CEFC was Shanghai Energy Fund Investment Ltd (SEFI), which was registered underYe Jianming, the chairman of CEFC.[2] Fortune described Ye as "China’s Newest Oil Baron" in its40 Under 40 of 2016 while noting his close connections to the Chinese government.[7][8]
In the autumn of 2015,Hunter Biden became acquainted with Ye. Ye and Biden worked together for about 18 months, with Biden providing his legal and financial experience to help CEFC establish joint ventures in the United States, such as Hudson West; Biden received fees in the amount of approximately $5 million for his services to CEFC.[9] Biden also worked with CEFC on foreign deals, e.g. State Energy HK in Hong Kong.[10]
In January 2017, Czech PresidentMiloš Zeman appointed Ye as his economic adviser, however, CEFC's many investments in the Czech Republic in the past years were soon noticed by Czech media and led to speculation about whether CEFC was operated at arm's length by the Chinese government.[7][11][12] Reuters reported that CEFC had a rare contract to store part of China's strategic oil reserve and "hired a number of former top officials from state-owned energy companies according to CEFC officials... It also [had] layers of Communist Party committees across its subsidiaries – more than at many private Chinese companies."[11]
In March 2018, Ye was detained in China for questioning on suspicion of economic crimes.[13][14] Reuters andSouth China Morning Post reported thatShanghai Guosheng Group [zh], a portfolio and investment entity that is a Shanghai municipal government agency, had taken control of CEFC China Energy.[15][16] On March 2, 2018, CEFC announced that Ye had stepped down as chairman and that state-controlledCITIC Group had acquired 49% of CEFC Shanghai, a subsidiary of CEFC China Energy. (CEFC Shanghai owned CEFC Europe.)[16][17] In April 2018, CEFC laid off 15,000 employees, who had not been paid for two months.[18] Later in March 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice arrested and later convicted high-level CEFC representativePatrick Ho in New York City on charges of bribery; Hunter Biden's law firm was paid $1 million to provide for Ho's legal defense.[9]
On the 16 December 2008, Shanghai CEFC Oil Group Co. Ltd. was established by Ye Ling [叶铃], Zheng Jianding [郑坚定] and Su Weizhong. (Refer to pages 1-1-43 & 1-1-44 of Shanghai Stock Exchange Filing.)
This was a precursor to CEFC China's official registration in China. In January 2010, Shanghai CEFC Oil Group Co. Ltd. was later rebranded as Shanghai CEFC International Group Co. Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "Shanghai CEFC"). In November 2009, China CEFC formed another subsidiary, Beijing CEFC Oil Group Co. Ltd., which was later renamed Beijing CEFC International Holdings Group Co. Ltd. and eventually Beijing CEFC International Energy Co. Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "Beijing CEFC").[19]
In May 2015, the company acquired a 5% stake inJ&T Finance Group.[20] This increased to 9.9% in September 2015.[21] In 2017, the company applied to acquire 50% control of J&T Finance Group, but theCzech National Bank did not approve the deal due to insufficient disclosure of information on the origin of most of the transaction funding.[22][23]
In September 2015, the company acquired multiple assets in theCzech Republic - a majority stake in breweryPivovary Lobkowicz Group [cs], a 10% stake in airlineTravel Service, 60% in football clubSK Slavia Prague and real-estate assets inPrague - the building of the formerŽivnostenská banka atNa příkopě street and Le Palais Art Hotel Prague.[24][25] CEFC also bought a stake of between 50 and 90% in Czech online travel agencyInvia [cs] in March 2016, possibly intending to capitalise on the rapid increase in Chinese tourism to Prague.[26]
In 2015, after CEFC China Energy invested in Czech media companyEmpresa Media [cs], owner ofTV Barrandov and magazineTýden, the tone of Empresa's coverage of China changed: All negative reporting about China was replaced by positive reporting.[27] In 2017, it withdrew its investment from Empresa Media.[28]
In September 2017, CEFC announced the purchase of a 14.16% stake inRosneft,Russia's largestoil producer, for about $9 billion.[29][30] However, CEFC was unable complete the acquisition and paid adeal break fee of about $257 million to the sellers, a consortium ofQatar Investment Authority andGlencore.[31]
In May 2018,CITIC Group announced they would repay 450 million Euros owed by CEFC Europe to finance and banking groupJ&T within days,[32] but since the debt was not paid a week later, J&T announced it had taken over shareholder rights and installed crisis management at CEFC Europe.[33] Several days later, CEFC Shanghai defaulted on $327 million in bond payments, and offered to make the payments six months after thematurity date.[34]
In October 2020, some retail CEFC bondholders in Hong Kong filed a complaint to theSecurities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong against the bond's sole underwriter CITICCLSA.[35]
CEFC China Energy is nominally a private company, albeit one with close government connections... CEFC China Energy has been involved in energy investments with the military's "princeling" elite.
Within 18 months, CEFC-linked entities had paid around $5 million to Hunter Biden... CEFC's demise followed a Justice Department prosecution of a top CEFC representative for bribery in New York, in which the representative [Patrick Ho] was later convicted. Hunter Biden's now-defunct agreement with the government says that in March 2018, his law firm received $1 million for legal fees to assist the CEFC representative.
Chinese energy: For two years, beginning in late autumn of 2015, Hunter Biden was in a business relationship with CEFC China Energy, a Chinese energy conglomerate. In 2017, he was promised $1m stemming from a deal with a CEFC associate, State Energy HK, a Hong Kong business.
| Oil and gas majors (Upstream /Downstream) |
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| Drilling services |
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| Refineries |
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