NVC Lighting recently announced a series of management changes. The company’s high ranking managers including founder and Chairman Wu Changjiang, Vice Presidents Wu Changyong, Mu Yu, Pei Jinhua, Yang Wenbiao and others have all resigned from company subsidiary boards. This has been the largest restructure tide since Mu left the board in May 2014. All high ranking officers will step down from 11 subsidiaries board positions after the recent adjustments.
Their positions will be overtaken by Elec-tech International (ETI) management including Chief Executive Officer Wang Donglei, Chief Financial Officer Wang Dongming, President Consultant Xiao Yu. Schneider Electric will also be replacing Chinese branch CEO Zhu Hai stake in NVC Lighting, while SAIF Partners will substitute company General Partner Brandon Lin.
According to recent NVC Lighting announcement the change in management will affect subsidiaries including Huizhou NVC Lighting, NVC Lighting (China), Zhejiang Jiangshan Sunny Electron, and others. The company Chairman Wu Changjiang will be stepping down from board positions in 10 of the subsidies.
It has only been one year since ETI invested in NVC Lighting, according to public records. By investing HK $1.65 billion (US $210 million) to absorb Wu Changjiang’s stock shares, ETI emerged with a 20 percent stake in NVC Lighting. After a series of changes in stock rights, ETI injected another HK $500 million to to grab another 6.86 percent stake in the company, and became NVC Lighting largest shareholder with a total of 27.10 percent shares.
The NVC Lighting Chairman Wu Changjiang was finally able to break the stalemate between Schneider Electric and SAIF Partners after ETI invested in the company in 2012. Earlier Wu was “booted out” of the board by Schneider Electric and SAIF Partners. This caused a massive company strike that completely shut down the supply and sales system. However, in the aftermath Wu was still unable to return to the board after numerous attempts.
In January 2013, Wu was nominated as the new company CEO during NVC Lighting’s first board meeting with company operators. NVC Lighting announced in June 2013, the company received a letter from stockholders that recommended Wu to become the company CEO and officially brought back Wu to the board. Many market insiders speculated Wu began a partnership with Wang Donglei after ETI invested in the company.
Currently, Wu will act as NVC Lighting CEO and Chairman after the restructure, but his shares in the company will be down to 2.54 percent.
According to understanding, after ETI acquired NVC Lighting shares it has been focused on its influence on the company and dominance to integrate the company in later stages. A source familiar with NVC Lighting noted, ETI aim is to use NVC Lighting to enter the LED market. The company’s biggest issue is still distribution channels, and still faces excess capacity and limited development. By acquiring NVC Lighting decision rights, it can easily control the company distribution channels. “It is possible that the two companies will become a single enterprise,” said Wang in April 2014. “These are all just a possibility. There is no set schedule yet.”