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ORGANIZATION AND PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES
12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Text Block]
1.
ORGANIZATION AND PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES
 
Origin Agritech Limited (“Agritech”), incorporated under the laws of the British Virgin Islands, and its subsidiaries and variable interest entities (together, the “Company”) are principally engaged in hybrid crop seed development, production and distribution. As of September 30, 2015, details of the Company’s subsidiaries and variable interest entities are as follows:
 
 
 
Date of
 
Place of
 
Percentage
 
 
 
 
Incorporation
 
Incorporation
 
of
 
Principal
Name
 
or Establishment
 
or Establishment
 
Ownership
 
Activity
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Subsidiaries:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
State Harvest Holdings
Limited(“State Harvest”)
 
October 6, 2004
 
British Virgin
Islands
 
100%
 
Investment
holding
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Beijing Origin State Harvest
 
December 1, 2004
 
People’s Republic
 
100%
 
Hybrid seed
Biotechnology Limited
(“BioTech”)
 
 
 
of China (“PRC”)
 
 
 
technology
development
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Variable interest entity:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Beijing Origin Seed Limited (note (i)) (“Beijing Origin”)
 
December 26, 1997
 
PRC
 
-
 
Hybrid crop seed
development,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
production and
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
distribution
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Subsidiaries held by Beijing Origin:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Henan Origin Cotton Technology Development Limited (note (i))
(“Henan Cotton”)
 
March 2, 2001
 
PRC
 
92.04%
 
Hybrid crop seed
development,
production and
distribution
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Changchun Origin Seed Technology Development Limited (note (i)) (“Changchun Origin”)
 
April 29, 2003
 
PRC
 
99.83%
 
Hybrid crop seed
development,
production and
distribution
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Linze Origin Seed Limited
(note (i))
 
November 18, 2008
 
PRC
 
100%
 
Hybrid crop seed
development,
production and
distribution
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Xinjiang Originbo Seed Company Limited (“Xinjiang Origin”) (note (i))
 
July 13, 2011
 
PRC
 
51%
 
Hybrid crop seed
development,
production and
distribution
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DenongZhengcheng Seed Limited (“Denong”)
 
June 21, 2000
 
PRC
 
98.58%
 
Hybrid seed
development,
production and
distribution
 
Note (i):
Beijing Origin Seed Limited, Henan Origin Cotton Technology Development Limited, Changchun Origin Seed Technology Development Limited, Linze Origin Seed Limited and Xinjiang Originbo Seed Company Limited are collectively referred to as “Beijing Origin”.
 
Reorganization of State Harvest prior to the share exchange transaction with Chardan China Acquisition Corp. (“Chardan”)
 
On December 1, 2004, State Harvest established Origin Biotechnology, a wholly-owned foreign enterprise (“WOFE”) under the laws of the PRC with an operating period of 20 years.
 
Under PRC law, foreign entities are not currently permitted to own more than 49% of a seed production company. In order to address those restrictions, State Harvest conducts substantially all of its business through contractual agreements with its variable interest entity (“VIE”), Beijing Origin. These agreements are summarized in the following paragraphs.
 
Stock Consignment Agreements
 
As discussed above in “Foreign Ownership Restrictions,” under Chinese law, foreign ownership of businesses engaged in the breeding of new varieties, development, production, marketing, distribution and sale of hybrid food crop seeds is limited to 49% pursuant to the Regulation on the Approval and Registration of Foreign Investment Enterprises in Agricultural Seed Industry and The Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue. State Harvest, as a non-Chinese corporation, may not directly own more than 49% of any of the PRC Operating Companies. However, Chinese law does not forbid the owner of stock to consign rights associated with the stock, as long as the owner does not transfer title to the stock. To gain control over the PRC Operating Companies, State Harvest entered into a series of stock consignment agreements with shareholders of those companies.
 
State Harvest has been assigned 97.96% voting rights by the shareholders of Beijing Origin through a consignment agreement which includes the following terms: (1) The shares of Beijing Origin cannot be transferred without the approval of State Harvest; (2) State Harvest has the right to appoint all directors and senior management personnel of Beijing Origin and (3) The shareholder rights including voting rights require the transfer of the shares of Beijing Origin to State Harvest or any party designated by State Harvest within three years upon the removal of the PRC legal restriction.
 
Technical Service Agreements
 
Beijing Origin entered into Technical Service Agreements with Origin Biotechnology dated December 25, 2004. Under these agreements, Origin Biotechnology shall provide, with its own technical research resource and team, technical services for the production and distribution of agricultural seeds during the period of the agreements. In return, Beijing Origin is required to pay Origin Biotechnology service fee calculated according to the weight of corn, rice and cotton seeds sold by the Beijing Origin.
 
Through the contractual agreements described above, State Harvest is deemed the sole beneficiary of Beijing Origin resulting in Beijing Origin being deemed a subsidiary of State Harvest under the requirements of Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standard Codification (“ASC”) 810-10-05. The agreements described above provided for effective control of Beijing Origin to be transferred to State Harvest at December 25, 2004. Neither State Harvest nor Origin Biotechnology had any operating activity prior to entering into the consignment agreements with Beijing Origin. In substance, State Harvest has substantially all the same shareholders of Beijing Origin. This transaction has been accounted for on a basis similar to reorganization between entities under common control. Accordingly, State Harvest’s consolidated financial statements are prepared by including the consolidated financial statements of Beijing Origin through December 24, 2004, and subsequently the Company’s consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of State Harvest, its majority owned subsidiary and Beijing Origin through the date of the Share Exchange Transaction.
 
Risks in relation to the VIE structure
 
Three of our PRC operating subsidiaries are controlled subsidiaries through stock consignment agreements rather than by direct ownership of shares, the terms of which may have to be enforced, which would require us to incur extra costs, create uncertainty as to ownership of the operating businesses involved and risk the possible loss of rights. There is the risk, however, that a consigning shareholder will not fulfill its obligations under the stock consignment agreement. In that event, we may need to resort to the PRC courts to have our rights under the applicable agreement enforced. Such enforcement will cause us to incur legal expenses. In addition, while a case is pending there will be uncertainty regarding our rights as to the three PRC operating subsidiaries involved. In addition, a PRC court may decide not to enforce the agreements in whole or in part. To the extent these agreements are neither observed nor enforced as intended, the PRC operating subsidiaries will not be controlled by us as intended, which will affect our enterprise value and restrict our ability to obtain the income and other rights of ownership associated with the consigned stock. It may also prevent the consolidation of our financial statements with the PRC operating subsidiaries, which would reduce the reported earnings of the consolidated companies. The uncertainty of ownership may also adversely affect the market value of our ordinary shares.
 
Whether or not a stock consignment agreement is terminated depends on the consensus of our Board and the consignees. Any such termination could result in a possible loss of certain rights or assets held by us without receiving fair value in return. The stock consignment agreements relating to our control of the stock of our PRC operating subsidiaries may be terminated after three years upon mutual agreement between us and the consignees. Holding this amount of stock will allow these officers to control or greatly influence the selection of directors and matters submitted to a vote of our shareholders, including voting to terminate the stock consignment agreements.
 
There are corporate protections in place designed to protect our interests, such as an independent Board of Directors, an audit committee comprised of independent directors that must approve insider transactions, a code of conduct requiring fair dealing with the Company, and the British Virgin Islands statutory provision that a disposition of more than 50% of the assets of a company must be approved by a majority of the shareholders. Moreover, if consigned stock is transferred to us as provided in the stock consignment agreements when the restrictions under PRC law are lifted, that stock will no longer be subject to the stock consignment agreements, and the termination of the stock consignment agreements would then have no effect on the ownership of that stock. However, if the stock consignment agreements are terminated, then we would lose our rights with respect to the consigned stock and the profits from the issuing corporation. Such a loss would impair the value of the Company and would reduce our ability to generate revenues.
 
The Company has aggregated the financial information of Beijing Origin and its subsidiaries in the table below. The aggregated carrying amount of assets and liabilities of Beijing Origin and its subsidiaries after elimination of intercompany transactions and balances consolidated in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2014 and 2015 are as follows:
 
Risks in relation to the VIE structure
 
 
 
September 30,
 
 
 
2014
 
2015
 
2015
 
 
 
RMB
 
RMB
 
US$
 
ASSETS
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Current Assets
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
 
 
41,987
 
 
65,138
 
 
10,240
 
Restricted cash
 
 
15,670
 
 
-
 
 
-
 
Accounts receivable
 
 
1,021
 
 
2,051
 
 
322
 
Due from related parties
 
 
2,698
 
 
-
 
 
-
 
Advances to suppliers
 
 
17,720
 
 
20,796
 
 
3,269
 
Advances to growers
 
 
20,759
 
 
10,483
 
 
1,648
 
Inventories
 
 
516,323
 
 
439,518
 
 
69,092
 
Income tax recoverable
 
 
49
 
 
49
 
 
8
 
Other current assets
 
 
4,347
 
 
4,292
 
 
675
 
Total current assets
 
 
620,574
 
 
542,327
 
 
85,254
 
Restricted cash
 
 
-
 
 
20,280
 
 
3,188
 
Land use rights, net
 
 
31,799
 
 
31,722
 
 
4,987
 
Plant and equipment, net
 
 
338,345
 
 
324,812
 
 
51,061
 
Equity investments
 
 
18,721
 
 
18,721
 
 
2,943
 
Goodwill
 
 
11,973
 
 
11,973
 
 
1,882
 
Acquired intangible assets, net
 
 
25,303
 
 
22,593
 
 
3,552
 
Other assets
 
 
4,009
 
 
3,079
 
 
484
 
Total assets
 
 
1,050,724
 
 
975,507
 
 
153,351
 
LIABILITIES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Current liabilities
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Short-term borrowings
 
 
212,695
 
 
220,000
 
 
34,584
 
Current portion of long-term borrowings
 
 
33,805
 
 
24,000
 
 
3,773
 
Accounts payable
 
 
4,522
 
 
4,386
 
 
690
 
Due to growers
 
 
17,943
 
 
17,337
 
 
2,725
 
Due to related parties
 
 
10,234
 
 
40,757
 
 
6,407
 
Advance from customers
 
 
324,265
 
 
264,168
 
 
41,527
 
Deferred revenues
 
 
19,029
 
 
11,248
 
 
1,768
 
Income tax payable
 
 
-
 
 
37
 
 
6
 
Other payables and accrued expenses
 
 
67,578
 
 
49,845
 
 
7,835
 
Total current liabilities
 
 
690,071
 
 
631,778
 
 
99,315
 
Long-term borrowings
 
 
31,023
 
 
27,023
 
 
4,248
 
Other long-term liability
 
 
19,649
 
 
19,939
 
 
3,134
 
Total liabilities
 
 
740,743
 
 
678,740
 
 
106,697
 
 
As of September 30, 2014 and 2015, consolidated assets of RMB211,038 and RMB243,469, respectively, are collateral for the VIE’s obligations. These consolidated assets consisted of land use right of RMB14,972 and RMB18,519, plant and equipment of RMB196,066 and RMB197,627, and inventory of RMB nil and 27,323 as of September 30, 2014 and 2015, respectively.
 
The consolidated revenues of the Company has been generated from the VIE and its subsidiaries for the year ended September 30, 2013, 2014 and 2015 are 100%, 100% and 100%, respectively. The VIE and its subsidiaries also account for 98.67%and 98.95% of the total assets of the Company as at September 30, 2014 and 2015, respectively.