Reporters learned that on the morning of January 23, Sun Jiancheng, general manager of China United Cement (310.71 yuan/ton, 0%) Group, visited Shandong Shanshui Group, the sole operating entity of Hong Kong-listed Shanshui Cement (324.29 yuan/ton, 0%), which is currently embroiled in an equity and control dispute, and held a face-to-face meeting with Mi Jingtian, vice chairman of Shanshui Group. The two sides stated that they "reached many consensuses on consolidating the cooperation mechanism between the two parties." As is well known, a new round of the "Shanshui" dispute has reignited. As a subsidiary of China National Building Material Group, the fourth largest shareholder of Shanshui Cement, China United Cement's visit this time is interpreted as an obvious taking of sides. If the core figures of Shanshui Group's management, who have already been announced by the board of Shanshui Cement as removed from their positions, really join forces with China National Building Material, the plot direction of the new round of Shanshui Group's "palace intrigue" drama may become clear.

At 14:29 yesterday afternoon, Shandong Shanshui Group pushed a latest message on its official WeChat public account: "Sun Jiancheng, general manager of China United Cement Group, and his delegation visited Shanshui Group. Mi Jingtian stated that he hopes the two sides will continue to strengthen communication and cooperation, give full play to the leading and guiding role of large enterprises, actively promote supply-side structural reform of the industry, strengthen cooperation in market construction, phasing out outdated capacity and other aspects, and jointly safeguard the healthy development of the industry. Sun Jiancheng also spoke highly of the production and operation performance achieved by Shanshui Group in 2016. The two sides conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on actively implementing Guobanfa [2016] No. 34 document, resolving overcapacity, regional market collaborative integration, and establishing a Shandong Cement Investment Company and other matters, and reached many consensuses on consolidating the cooperation mechanism between the two parties."

It is understood that Shanshui Cement currently has four major shareholders: the largest shareholder, Henan Tianrui (332.14 yuan/ton, 0%) Group, holds 28.16%; Shanshui Investment, held by numerous employee shareholders including Mi Jingtian, accounts for 25.09%; Asia Cement (301.25 yuan/ton, 0%) holds 20.90%; and central enterprise China National Building Material holds 16.67%. Regarding this new round of the "Shanshui" dispute, the third largest shareholder of listed company Shanshui Cement, Asia Cement, and the fourth largest shareholder, China National Building Material, have previously publicly voiced support for Mi Jingtian and other current management of Shandong Shanshui, recognized the capabilities of the current Shanshui Group management team, and firmly opposed Tianrui Group's issuance of new shares.

In fact, unlike the "mutual hostility" between the management and China National Building Material when Tianrui first entered Shanshui Group, after the new management represented by Mi Jingtian took office, they had long since made peace with China National Building Material. Mi Jingtian believes that China United Cement under China National Building Material and Shanshui Cement together account for 65% of the market share in Shandong, and both sides hope to establish an industry exit mechanism by setting up an investment company. In Mi Jingtian's view, establishing an investment company can solidify the results of capacity reduction.

At present, public attention is mostly focused on the extraordinary general meeting of Shanshui Cement to be held on February 17. According to the shareholding ratio, if the shareholders of Shanshui Investment can take back voting rights from the trustee, with the management of Shandong Shanshui Group and China National Building Material joining forces, even without considering the third largest shareholder Asia Cement, their combined shareholding will exceed 41%, surpassing the 28% shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder, and the new round of the "Shanshui" control dispute may be decided.