Gome Chairman Chen Xiao speaks with Caixin about Huang Guangyu, investment by Bain Capital, and more:
After Huang was detained, I was appointed as acting chairman of the board. At the time, the company was facing great risks as the incident could trigger an early redemption of a total of HK$ 5.2 billion in convertible bonds, but the company almost had no cash in hand.
Nearly all the banks had suspended lending to the company and some required us to repay in advance. Many accounts were frozen. Suppliers also demanded that we shorten our payment period, while some even asked us to pay immediately.
Those were very difficult days and the company was in a very precarious situation. It became clear that the management had to take charge.
