On November 20, 2025, the voting period for the restructuring proposal of 38 companies, including Suning Appliance Group, (referred to as the “Suning Group Companies”) has been further extended to December 14. The restructuring proposal reveals that the Suning Group Companies are facing over 230 billion yuan in debt, while the asset liquidation value is only 41 billion yuan, resulting in a situation where the liabilities exceed assets. To resolve the crisis, major shareholder Zhang Jindong and other shareholders will have their equity wiped out, and Zhang Jindong and his wife will need to inject all their personal assets into a trust.
On November 18, the substantial merger and restructuring proposal of Suning Appliance Group and 38 other companies had its voting period extended to December 14. The previous voting deadline had been extended from October 17 to November 14. On November 15, Suning Yigou announced that the board of directors had approved the restructuring proposal of the 38 Suning Group Companies.
According to the restructuring proposal, the total debt of the 38 Suning Group Companies amounts to 238.73 billion yuan. Among them, the total amount of claims determined by the administrator’s preliminary review is 188.07 billion yuan, including secured claims of 97.12 billion yuan, tax claims of 4.48 billion yuan, and unsecured claims of 86.47 billion yuan. Additionally, there are claims pending confirmation of 28.259 billion yuan and unreported claims of 22.401 billion yuan.
In stark contrast to the liabilities, the assets have significantly shrunk in scale. According to reports by The Paper, the audited total book value of assets of the 38 Suning Group Companies is 96.839 billion yuan, with a total market value of assessed assets at 63.691 billion yuan, and a further shrinkage to a liquidation value of 41.005 billion yuan, indicating a severe insolvency.
Of the total assets, liquid assets amount to 28.958 billion yuan, with cash funds at only 3.84 billion yuan. Among the non-current assets, investment properties account for 15.45 billion yuan, and long-term equity investments amount to 8.732 billion yuan. The proposal indicates that under the assumption of bankruptcy liquidation, the expected repayment rate for unsecured claims is only about 3.5%.
The core measure of this restructuring is the establishment of a bankruptcy reorganization trust to manage the equity and assets within the restructuring scope.
According to the restructuring proposal, all external shareholders’ equity of the 38 Suning Group Companies will be gratuitously transferred, and after the restructuring is completed, 100% of their shares will be injected into the trust plan. The external funding group consists of 13 registered external shareholders, including Zhang Jindong and his wife, Zhang Kangyang, among others. This means that the equity interests of Zhang Jindong and other original shareholders in these 38 companies will be legally adjusted to zero. As compensation, they will receive subordinated trust quotas based on their actual contributions.
Furthermore, regarding the liabilities guaranteed by Zhang Jindong and his spouse Liu Yuping for the 38 companies, the proposal stipulates that upon issuing a commitment letter and approval of the restructuring plan, creditors will suspend the pursuit of their guarantee obligations. One of the conditions for suspending repayment is that Zhang Jindong and Liu Yuping commit to injecting all their personal assets into the trust plan within three months from the establishment date of the trust plan.
Founded in 1990, Suning has grown over 35 years from a specialized air conditioning store in Nanjing to a business empire covering retail, real estate, sports, and finance. However, the aggressive expansion after 2011 became a turning point. After receiving a strategic investment of 28.3 billion yuan from Alibaba in 2015, Suning embarked on a spree of cross-border acquisitions: acquiring Jiangsu Suning Club in 2015, Inter Milan Club in 2016, Tiantian Express in 2017, investing in Evergrande Real Estate and Wanda Commercial, and acquiring Wanda Department Store and Carrefour China in 2019.
Suning began its adjustment in 2018, divesting struggling Suning Small Stores and Suning Finance. Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, Suning’s liquidity crisis began to surface in 2020. Subsequently, Zhang Jindong transferred Suning Yigou shares for 14.8 billion yuan, losing control. In October 2021, Suning Group defaulted on private bonds issued through an internal platform, bringing the debt crisis to the forefront, ultimately leading to bankruptcy restructuring.