| COMPANY |
MINISO Group Holding Limited |
| COURT |
United States District Court for the Central District of California |
| CASE NUMBER |
22-cv-05815 |
| JUDGE |
Christina A. Snyder |
| CLASS PERIOD |
MINISO's October 2020 Initial Public Offering |
| SECURITY TYPE |
Securities |
MINISO investors may receive additional information about the case by clicking the link "Submit Your Information" above. If you are a member of the class described below, you may no later than October 17, 2022 move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose.
A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of those who purchased or acquired MINISO Group Holding Limited (“MINISO”) (NYSE: MNSO) securities pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and related prospectus (collectively, the “Registration Statement”) issued in connection with MINISO’s October 2020 initial public offering (the “IPO”).
Case Background:
On September 23, 2020, MINISO filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form F-1 for the IPO. On October 15, 2020, the Company filed with the SEC a final prospectus for the IPO on Form 424B4, which incorporated and formed part of the Registration Statement. In the IPO, MINISO sold 30,400,000 American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) at $20.00 per ADS. The complaint alleges that the Registration Statement was negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material facts or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading.
Headquartered in the People's Republic of China ("PRC"), MINISO purports to be a fast-growing global value retailer which serves consumers primarily through its large network of MINISO stores.
On July 26, 2022, market researcher Blue Orca Capital published a report on MINISO which alleged several issues with MINISO, including that "contrary to [MINISO]'s claims, many MINISO stores are secretly owned by [MINISO] executives or insiders closely connected to the chairman" and "[u]ltimately, we believe that there is overwhelming evidence that MINISO misleads the market about its core business." As Blue Orca explained, "[o]ur suspicion is that MINISO realized early in the pre-IPO process that a brick-and-mortar retailer would be far less attractive to investors than an asset-light franchise business, so we think that [MINISO] simply lied about these stores." Blue Orca added that "Chinese corporate filings also indicate, in our view, that the chairman siphoned hundreds of millions from the public company through opaque Caribbean jurisdictions as the middleman in a crooked headquarters deal." Blue Orca further concluded that "[i]ndependent evidence, including archived disclosures on MINISO's Chinese website, reports in Chinese media and interviews with former employees, indicate that MINISO is a brand in serious peril," noting that "MINISO lowered its franchising fee by 63% over the past two years in a desperate effort to attract franchisees." Following this news, MINISO's ADS price fell nearly 15%.
As of July 27, 2022, MINISO ADSs closed at $5.66 per ADS, representing more than a 70% decline from the $20.00 IPO price.
The complaint against MINISO alleges that the IPO's Registration Statement was false and/or misleading and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants and other undisclosed related parties owned and controlled a much larger amount of MINISO stores than previously stated; (2) as a result, MINISO concealed its true costs; (3) MINISO did not represent its true business model; (4) defendants, including MINISO and its Chairman, engaged in planned unusual and unclear transactions; (5) as a result of at least one of these transactions, MINISO is at risk of breaching contracts with PRC authorities; and (6) MINISO would imminently and drastically drop its franchise fees.
A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member’s claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. Filling out the online form above or communicating with any counsel is not necessary to participate or share in any recovery achieved in this case. Any member of the purported class may move the court to serve as a lead plaintiff through counsel of his/her choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an inactive class member.
If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP: Jonathan Naji, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or via e-mail at info@ktmc.com. If you would like additional information about the suit, please click on the link "Submit Your Information" above and fill out the form as promptly as possible.