Officials of Tianyuan Logistics are refusing to comment on how the arrest of the head of state-controlled China Huarong Asset Management Co will affect their ambitious newbuilding plans with China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC).
Chinese news organisation Caixin reported today that Huarong has extensive financial ties to manganese giant Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese Industry Co, the parent of Tianyuan Logistics.
That Caixin report followed news that Huarong party secretary and chairman Lai Xiaomin had been taken away Tuesday evening by Beijing's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) for "serious disciplinary violations", a stock phrase that is meant to be interpreted as alleging corruption.
TradeWinds has exclusively reported on Tianyuan's ambitious plans for newbuildings, most recently a series of 10 baby capesizes to be built at the northern Chinese yards of CSIC. The ships, which TradeWinds understands remain at the letter of intent (LOI) stage, would be Tianyuan's first owned vessels.
Yu Weizhong, general manager of Tian Yuan Shipping Co Ltd, declined to comment on whether Lai's fall would affect the company's order plans.
"I fully reject the question you ask me," Yu said.
Yu did not respond to a further text message enquiry about whether the reported CSIC deal is still on.
Despite the CCDI language about "serious disciplinary violations", some outside China are interpreting Lai's fall as a move to rein in his aggressive investment strategy rather than an effort to stamp out corruption.
State-owned Huarong Asset Management is one of China's "bad banks", originally established for acquiring non-performing assets, and columnist Shuli Ren speculates in Bloomberg Gadfly today that Lai may have raised hackles by focusing too little on managing bad debt and too much on overseas investment plays like those that led Beijing to crack down on Anbang Insurance Group.
