In 2021, the short-term shortage of battery materials and upstream lithium, cobalt and nickel resources led to an irrational rise in lithium battery prices, although some enterprises locked in a certain amount of raw material supply by way of price locking. However, under the original price adjustment mechanism, it was not transmitted to the downstream in time, and the cost pressure brought about by the price increase of raw materials increased greatly.
In 2022, the price rise of most battery materials has slowed down, but it is generally running at a high level, and it is difficult to reverse this trend in the short term.
Strategic investment to participate in the upstream and downstream enterprises of the industrial chain to achieve industry-financial interaction and resource sharing is one of the relatively fast and effective means to resist cost pressure. Battery network carding found that in the first quarter of this year, strategic investment in lithium battery companies increased significantly:
Honeycomb energy
On March 30, Honeycomb Energy and BASF Shanshan Strategic Investment Yongshan Lithium Industry held a signing ceremony. After signing the contract, Honeycomb Energy and BASF Shanshan will each hold a 10% stake in Yongshan Lithium Industry as shareholders.
It is reported that Yongshan lithium industry plans to invest 1.423 billion yuan to plan and build a 45000 ton / year lithium salt production base, which is still under construction. Among them, the first phase of the project (15000 tons / year lithium hydroxide and 10, 000 tons / year lithium carbonate production project) is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in June 2022.
In early January this year, Honeycomb Energy successively completed its investments in Jiang Tongyazi copper foil and Hebei Kuntian, the latter two manufacturers of lithium copper foil and artificial graphite, respectively.
BYD (002594)
On March 22nd, BYD (002594) plans to strategically invest in Shengxin Lithium Energy, an upstream raw material supplier. According to the non-public offering plan disclosed by Shengxin LiNeng that night, the total amount of funds to be raised by the company will not exceed 3 billion yuan, and BYD, a specific target, will fully subscribe for the shares issued by Shengxin LiNeng in cash.
Shengxin Lithium Energy is mainly engaged in lithium mining and lithium products production and sales, the main products are lithium concentrate, lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, lithium metal. Upon completion of the offering, BYD's stake in Shengxin LiNeng is expected to exceed 5%. Shengxin Lithium can promise to give priority to BYD's lithium salt processing capacity under the same conditions.
In February, BYD also bought a stake in Tongbo Technology, an electronics copper foil maker, with a 6.44% stake, making it the seventh-largest shareholder.
Ningde era (300750)
On March 14, Ningde Times (300750) increased its stake in Genyuan to 14.26%. Aoki Gaoxin, a wholly owned subsidiary of Genyuan Biology, is mainly engaged in the manufacture and sales of additives for lithium battery electrolyte.
On February 20, China Science Electric (300035) announced that Ningde Times or its wholly-owned subsidiary would increase its capital to Zhongke Star City in Gui'an New area by RMB 280 million. After the completion of this capital increase, the registered capital of Zhongke Star City in Gui'an New area will be increased from RMB 100 million to RMB 800 million. Ningde Times and its wholly-owned subsidiaries hold 35% of its equity after the capital increase.
On January 12th, Yongtai Technology (002326), a holding subsidiary of Yongtai High-tech, changed its industry and commerce, adding Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. as a shareholder with a stake of 25%. Ningde era invested in Yongtai High-tech, mainly to ensure the stable supply of lithium hexafluorophosphate and new lithium salt in the later period.
On January 11, the industrial and commercial change occurred in Dongheng New Energy, and Ningbo Meishan bonded Port Investment Co., Ltd. was added as the shareholder of Ningbo Meishan bonded Port Investment Co., Ltd. Dongheng New Energy is engaged in the production of high-performance carbon anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, carbon nanotube conductive agents and conductive pastes.
Yi Wei Li energy (300014)
On the evening of January 12, Yiwei LiNeng (300014) announced that it had successfully acquired Chai Jian's 35.2857% stake in Xinghua Lithium Salt, with a final transaction price of 144 million yuan (excluding auction service fee). At the same time, the company transferred East Zhai Yanhong's 13.7143% stake in Xinghua Lithium Salt for 56.0158 million yuan. After the completion of the above transaction, the company directly owns 49% of Xinghua Lithium Salt. Xinghua lithium salt business scope includes lithium salt, boron compound production, sales and so on.
In addition to the above-mentioned battery companies, in the first quarter of this year, many car companies and lithium materials companies announced strategic investment trends:
Xiaomi / Geely
March 24, Weilan new energy industry and commerce changes, the addition of Xiaomi Yangtze River Industrial Fund, Huawei affiliated company Hubble Investment, Geely Blue Plan Partnership and other shareholders. Weilan New Energy focuses on the R & D and production of solid-state lithium batteries. On February 25th, Weilan New Energy 100GWh solid-state lithium battery project started in Zibo, Shandong Province, with a total investment of 40 billion yuan.
According to public data, in addition to Weilan New Energy, Xiaomi has also invested in battery companies such as China New Airlines, Honeycomb Energy, Ganfeng Lithium Power, Zhuhai Guanyu and so on.
Zhongwei Co., Ltd. (300919)
On March 8, Zhongwei shares (300919) announced that the company intends to participate in the strategic placement of Tengyuan Cobalt (301219) with its own funds, with 574778 shares to be allotted with an amount of 99.9999 million yuan. Zhongwei and Tengyuan Cobalt have signed a "Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation" on February 16. the two sides will carry out long-term and stable cooperation in product supply, marketing and processing, and strive for monthly balanced purchase and sales from 2022 to 2025. The two sides expect the total supply and demand of cobalt salt to be 10-200000 physical tons, with an annual average of 250-50, 000 physical tons.
Wei Xiaoli and other car companies
On the evening of February 24th, Xinwanda (300207) issued an announcement that the company's board of directors approved 19 enterprises to increase capital to the holding subsidiary Xinwanda car battery with a total of 2.43 billion yuan to subscribe for 1.237 billion yuan of new registered capital for Xinwanda car battery. Corresponding to the completion of this capital increase, Xinwanda car battery a total of 19.55% equity.
What is worth paying attention to is that among the 19 capital-raising parties, the new car-building forces "Wei Xiaoli", SAIC Group, GAC GROUP, Dongfeng Motor, OPPO and other well-known enterprises are in the list. Among them, Jiangsu Automobile Hejia Automobile Co., Ltd. is an ideal automobile related company, Sky Top LLC is a Xiaopeng automobile related company, and both companies lead to invest 400 million yuan; Suzhou Weirui Venture Capital Partnership (limited partnership) is a Weilai automobile related company, with an increase of 250 million yuan. The capital increase and landing means that the three new forces of head car building will jointly "support" Xinwanda's power battery business.
SAIC (600104)
On February 21st, news from SAIC (600104) showed that SAIC and Aoyama held a meeting and a brief ceremony to congratulate the two sides on the deepening of strategic cooperation. At the beginning of this year, SAIC led the financing of the industrial round of Ruipu Energy, a subsidiary of Aoyama Industry, and became the largest external strategic investor. Ruipu Energy, which belongs to Qingshan Group, is mainly engaged in R & D, production and sales of power / energy storage lithium-ion battery monomer to system application, with the goal of reaching 200GWh production capacity by 2025.
On February 22nd, Shangchai (600841) issued an announcement that the board of directors of the company agreed to invest 180 million yuan as a LP (limited partner) to participate in Jiaxing SAIC Rui Equity Investment Partnership (limited partnership) and invest in Ruipu Energy Co., Ltd. It is reported that SAIC holds about 48% of Shangchai's shares and is the company's controlling shareholder. Jiaxing SAIC Investment, established in January this year, is also a subsidiary of SAIC.
EnchemCo.,Ltd.
After the trading on February 10, Duofudo (002407) announced that Yangfu New material, the company's holding subsidiary, introduced strategic investors in the way of capital increase and share expansion. South Korean listed company EnchemCo.,Ltd. It is agreed to subscribe for Yangfu New Materials with RMB 276 million in accordance with the agreement to increase the registered capital by 44.3963 million yuan, acquire 15% equity of Yangfu New Materials after the capital increase, and the remaining 231 million yuan will be included in the capital reserve. EnchemCo.,Ltd. Department of South Korea lithium battery electrolyte research and development, production and sales enterprises, in the field of new energy electrolyte related products with advanced technology and rich experience.
Huayou Cobalt Industry (603799)
On February 6th, Yacheng Xincai, a subsidiary of Hezhong Science and Technology (300447), completed 180 million yuan of strategic financing, invested by Huayou in Tongxiang and the investment institution of Huayou Holdings. According to the previous announcement, Huayou Cobalt Industry invested a total of 120 million yuan in Yacheng New Materials, corresponding to 12.13% equity stake in Yacheng New Materials; Huayou Holdings plans to invest a total of 60 million yuan in Yacheng New Materials, and corresponding will acquire 6.07% equity interest in Yacheng New Materials.
Yacheng New Materials is committed to the research and development, manufacture and sales of lithium-ion battery cathode material precursors, the main products are cobalt hydroxide, battery-grade cobalt tetroxide, ferric phosphate and so on.
Honda / GM, etc.
SES launched a $275 million PIPE offering at $10.00 a share on Feb. 3, with investors including Honda, General Motors, Hyundai, Geely Holdings, Kia and SAIC.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has signed a technical cooperation agreement with Taiwan solid-state battery company Huineng Technology to jointly develop next-generation batteries, with an investment of millions of euros, according to Daimler's official website. In addition, on January 21st, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis Group also led the financing of D-round of Factorial Energy, a US solid-state battery start-up.
Battery Network noted that in addition to strategic investment in existing industrial chain enterprises, in the first quarter, in order to enhance the stability of the supply chain and reduce the risk of raw material purchase price fluctuations, there are also many cases of joint ventures among automobile companies, battery material enterprises and upstream raw material enterprises: for example, on March 24, Qingshan and SAIC jointly invested 5.5 billion yuan to build a 20GWh power battery and system project in Liuzhou, Guangxi. On March 21, Volkswagen China announced its intention to set up a joint venture with Huayou Cobalt and Qingshan Group to help further optimize battery costs. On March 7, General Motors and Posco announced that they would spend US $400 million to build a battery material production base in Canada. On the evening of February 8, Jiayuan Science and Technology announced that it planned to invest in Guangdong Jiayuan era with Ningde era to expand production of electrolytic copper foil. On the evening of January 28th, Tianhua Super net announcement plans to jointly fund the newly established Co., Ltd. to build 100000 tons of lithium carbonate capacity with Ningde Times. On January 15, BYD and China FAW set up a joint venture, FAW Fudi, to expand the power battery capacity of 45GWh.
Conclusion: lithium electricity industry has a long industrial chain, involving the intersection of multi-disciplines and multi-fields, resources and technology are the core barriers, and cases of cross-border layout failure can be found everywhere. Taking the lithium compound and metal lithium industry as an example, Ganfeng Lithium Industry mentioned in its 2021 annual report that the industry has high entry barriers, including adequate and stable supply channels of lithium raw materials, first-class technical knowledge and R & D capabilities; huge initial capital expenditure and early development time; establishing cooperation with diversified blue-chip customers; management experience and talent reserve, etc.
In this context, the future strategic investment trend will be further highlighted. Investors can ensure the supply and price control of upstream materials or parts through strategic investment, effectively deal with risk challenges and maintain the stability of the industrial chain supply chain. the target enterprise also obtains customer resources and funds to support its own capacity expansion, technology research and development, product layout and business development.
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