On the evening of September 7, the domestic costume fantasy fairy drama "Hua Qiangu" finally broadcast the finale. Although the ending was edited to pieces, it still did not affect its ratings. The star Zhao Liying also went from an unknown actor to a star with millions of fans.

But who is the biggest winner of "Hua Qiangu"? The answer may be the producer.

The next three years will be very stressful

Recently, with the targeted issuance of new shares by Hexin Shares (002343) officially listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Ciwen Media, the producer of "Hua Qiangu", will also run towards the end of the backdoor listing.

In December last year, Hexin shares issued the "Major Asset Replacement and Issuance of Shares to Purchase Assets and Related Transactions Report (Draft) ", which intends to obtain 100% equity of Ciwen Media through three links: major asset replacement, issuance of shares to purchase assets, and asset transfer. Ciwen Media priced 2.407 billion yuan. Then the matter was officially approved in July this year.

On the evening of September 13, Hexin shares issued an announcement announcing the implementation of major asset replacement and the issuance of shares to purchase assets. Hexin shares intend to place assets at a price of 1.012 billion yuan, the price of the assets to be placed 2.407 billion yuan, and the difference of 1.395 billion yuan will be purchased by the company’s issued shares. The issue price is 8.56 yuan/share, and a total of 116.39 million shares will be issued. The assets will be sold to the main promoter shareholders of Hexin shares, and the transferee will pay 40 million shares of Hexin shares as consideration.

After the transaction is completed, Ma Zhongjun, chairperson of Ciwen Media, and his co-ordinated actors will become the controlling shareholder and actual controller of Hexin shares.

"This also means that the pressure on them in the next three years will be equally huge," Wang Lu, a longtime film and television producer, said in an interview with China Business News.

According to the report, Ma Zhongjun and other five counterparties to the transaction were completed and became the actual controllers of the listed company and their concerted actors. They subscribed for the non-public offering of Hexin shares in this major asset restructuring and did not transfer the new shares within 36 months from the date of listing; Wei Lili and other nine counterparties to the transaction, as the management or backbone employees of Ciwen Media, did not transfer their shares in this issue within 12 months from the date of listing of the new shares. After the performance commitments in 2014 and 2015 reached the agreed amount of the "Profit Forecast Compensation Agreement" and the "Supplementary Agreement on the" Profit Forecast Compensation Agreement ", the cumulative lifting of the sales restriction was 25%. The performance commitments in 2016 reached the agreed amount of the" Profit Forecast Compensation Agreement "and the" Supplementary Agreement on the "Profit Forecast Compensation Agreement" After that, the sales restriction was lifted by a total of 60%, and the 2017 performance commitment reached the amount stipulated in the "Profit Forecast Compensation Agreement" and the "Supplementary Agreement on the" Profit Forecast Compensation Agreement ", and the sales restriction was lifted by a total of 100%.

Ciwen Media promised that the net profit attributable to the parent company in the consolidated statements of Hexin shares in 2015-2018 was not less than 195 million yuan, 250 million yuan, 310 million yuan and 330 million yuan respectively, but Ciwen Media’s net profit in 2013 was only 71.368 million yuan. In 2014, the net profit of "Hua Qiangu" increased to 120 million yuan.

Is there a "Hua Qiangu" every year?

The annual growth rate of around 50% means that Ciwen Media will produce at least one more drama "Hua Qiangu" every year, but is it easy?

When it comes to Ciwen Media, many people believe that "Hua Qiangu" made the company popular overnight, but this is not the case.

Ciwen Media is one of the first private film and television companies in China to be granted a TV drama production and operation license (Type A). The founder Ma Zhongjun has a certain influence in the film and television drama circle because of his typical cultural businessperson image.

Since the 1970s, Ma Zhongjun has been known as a pioneer of Chinese experimental drama for his pioneering drama script "Hot Flow Outside the House", and then "Red Dress on the Street", "Red Room, White Room, Black Room" and the movie script "Beach" have risen to the literary world.

In the early 1990s, Ma Zhongjun got involved in the field of film and television production. So far, he has produced and produced nearly 100 films and television dramas of various types. Ma Zhongjun is behind the high-quality TV dramas such as "The Legend of the Condor Hero", "The Condor Hero", "Seven Swords Under Tianshan".

Ma Zhongjun founded the Ciwen film distribution company in 2008 and participated in the production of a number of excellent films, such as the film "Iron Triangle" directed by Tsui Hark, Qifeng To, and Lin Lingdong, the film "Tough Guy" directed by Ding Sheng, and the film "Agent Zero Dog" directed by Wang Jing.

"Ciwen is going to be an all-media content provider," Ma Zhongjun said in an interview with this reporter.

At that time, he began to try integrated marketing from "Journey to the West". This was not the traditional understanding of eating more than one dish, but a unified rhythm at the time of launch, which was done according to the overall plan to improve the strength, influence and brand extension of the entire product.

"So we have animation, we have movies, we have TV, we have new media content because they are not decentralized but collective and integrated, which is what we want in our corporate structure," Mr. Ma said.

This is why "Hua Qiangu" not only sells TV series copyrights to traditional platforms, but also develops multiple industrial chains such as movies and derivatives, thus stimulating the maximum value of IP.

And if the company wants to fulfill its promise, in addition to "Hua Qiangu" constantly generating new revenue, it needs more effort to create film and television dramas such as "Nezha" and "Western Medicine Empire".