This article comes from the official account of Automotive Business Review Wechat, written by Li Na.
After 24 days of lightning, the first day on the market rose 44%. Recently, the news about the era of the power battery "unicorn" Ningde is everywhere.
However,In addition to listing, another move of the Ningde era is more noteworthy. Before the current CES Asia exhibition, Baiteng announced the completion of round B financing, including FAW, Ningde era and so on.
Upstream parts enterprises invest in complete vehicle enterprises, this kind of operation in the opposite direction is only an individual case.
After all, as a major competitor in the Ningde era, BYD broke the previous closed loop and spun off the power battery business because of the loss of first place in the industry.
Judging from the current performance, BYD has won orders from Changan and Dongfeng, and at the same time actively promoted the cooperation between BAIC New Energy and GAC NE, and even Wang Chuanfu personally came forward to communicate with the senior management of Great Wall and BAIC.
In contrast to the Ningde era, it has successively won orders from SAIC, BAIC, Geely, Fuqi, CRRC, Dongfeng, Changan, Yutong, NIO Inc., BMW, Volkswagen and Daimler. Even when partners promote new cars, the Ningde era has become an important label.
What is the purpose of doing so in the Ningde era, when there is no worry about selling, and even some picky ones?
The benefits behind the investment
Baiteng CEO Bi Fukang (Carsten Breitfeld) believes that getting the investment from Ningde era is not only to provide electric core to vehicle companies, but also to cooperate with car companies in vehicle development.
The Automotive Business Review interviewed insiders in the Ningde era and got a reply that they did not know the situation. "the investment belongs to the strategic investment department and will not express its views to the outside world for the time being." The person said.
In fact, in February 2017, Ningde Times invested 30 million euros to acquire a 22% stake in Finland's Vermead Automobile Co., Ltd. (Valmet Automotive Oy), and the two sides will work together on technical cooperation in the field of electric vehicles.
If all goes well, Ningde era will improve battery technology, related facilities and production capacity for Weimeide, which will help Ningde era to expand its European customers.
And Baiteng is the second car company invested in Ningde era, and it is the only car-building new power enterprise in China.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the National passenger car Market Information Association, said that investing in complete vehicle enterprises can first master the downstream manufacturing industry, improve the production and allocation technology of battery enterprises, and secondly, achieve a stronger cooperative relationship. "after all, power batteries are strategic resource products and need to ensure a strong relationship between supply and demand." Cui Dongshu said.
Insiders in the power battery industry believe that the investment in Ningde era has achieved the binding of strategic relations to ensure the external sales of battery enterprises. In addition, through cooperation with vehicle companies to establish market prices, to further achieve profitability. Not only that, battery companies can drill down to the bottom of vehicle research and development to obtain vehicle development data.
Cao he, chief analyst of the automotive industry at National Securities, believes that from the perspective of capital, the investment in Baiteng in the Ningde era is a test of the water. "the Ningde era has just acquired a lot of capital, so it is necessary to carry out a series of investment projects."
Coincidentally, as early as 2015, Guoxuan Hi-Tech established a comprehensive cooperative relationship with BAIC. The two sides reached a cooperation agreement on the joint establishment of overseas R & D platforms, joint venture construction of battery plants, cooperation in the operation of power exchange mode taxis, battery recycling, echelon utilization and other related projects.
In March 2016, Guoxuan Hi-Tech invested 307 million yuan to participate in BAIC New Energy. After the capital increase is completed, Hefei Guoxuan will hold a 3.75% stake in BAIC New Energy. In 2017, the capital of BAIC New Energy B round financing was increased. The actual benefit is that Guoxuan Hi-Tech won the 1.875 billion yuan annual pure electric vehicle battery system procurement contract of BAIC New Energy.
"upstream parts companies will not be willing to be suppliers forever." Cao he said. therefore, he believes that whether battery or motor companies, once they have obtained capital, they will actively invest in vehicle companies, so they will have a stronger say. " This is not only a trend, but also a form of industrial chain integration. "
"with the repeated investment of capital, it is not ruled out that similar 'Ningde' cars may appear in the next 3-5 years." Cao he believes that, "from the development trend of the industry, there is such a development direction."
How to attract investors' favor
This time, why is the investment object of the Ningde era Baiteng?
Behind the participation, there has been a clue. On April 25, Ningde Times and Baiteng signed a letter of intent for strategic cooperation at the scene of the Beijing Auto Show. According to the content of this letter of intent, Ningde era will provide the power source for Baiteng's first mass production SUV. In the future, the two sides will actively explore in-depth cooperation in the field of automotive battery technology.
The B round of financing, although Baiteng did not announce the specific amount of investment, according to Ningde era insiders said that the amount is not heavy.
Baiteng, a new force in car building, debuted its first SUV model, the BYTON Concept, at the CES in Las Vegas in January, and received the first batch of 1000 new car bookings. According to the plan, the model will be produced in the first half of 2019 and go on sale in the fourth quarter.
At present, the global headquarters of Baiteng has been put into use, and the construction of its Nanjing factory is also in the process of steady progress. at present, the foundation pouring has been completed and the construction of structural piles is being promoted. It can achieve a production capacity of 300000 vehicles per year.
In terms of hardware, Baiteng is expanding research and development, and the production team is also expanding steadily. It is expected that the R & D team will reach 400 by the end of this year.
In terms of research and development, Baiteng Night unveiled its first concept car, which is equipped with L4 self-driving function and is expected to land in 2019 and achieve mass production in 2021.
In addition, Baiteng also announced the opening of the first domestic brand store in the fourth quarter of this year.
Cao he believes that the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market can bring more investment opportunities, car-building new power enterprises is the use of capital means to achieve operation.
For Ningde era, the advantages of investing in new power vehicles outweigh the disadvantages. On the one hand, the amount of investment is relatively small, and enterprise orders can be obtained; on the other hand, Ningde era can obtain high-tech R & D data to promote the development of enterprises.
"this is an inevitable trend, and investment in Baiteng may have just begun." Cao Helu said.
Praise and query
Zeng Yuqun, chairman of Ningde Times, once said publicly: "Globalization is not only one of the main strategies for the company's next development, but also one of the necessary ways to realize the company's strategic vision."
Founded in the Ningde era in 2011, power battery shipments reached 12GWh in 2017, surpassing Panasonic's 10GWh to become the first in the world. This is the first time that a Chinese lithium battery company has topped the global list of shipments.
Not only that, the Ningde era is still expanding and plans to build new sites in Europe. At the same time, it has also opened up foreign markets to supply BMW, Volkswagen and Nissan brands.
However, after the listing of IPO, there are two voices in the industry on the Ningde era.
Officially landed on the gem of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, it rose 44% on the first day, closing at 36.2yuan, with a total market capitalization of about 78.64 billion yuan. The amount of capital raised has set a new record for gem IPO.
On the one hand, thanks to the promotion of national policies, the new energy vehicle market ushered in the outbreak, which brings unprecedented opportunities to the power battery market. Therefore, the Ningde era has long been hot in the capital market.
However, due to the rise in the price of raw materials, the price of battery enterprises remains high. In order to cope with the decline of subsidies in the new energy vehicle market, the Ningde era even played the card of "price for market".In 2017, the average sales price of power battery system in Ningde era was 1.41 yuan / Wh, down 31.59% from the same period last year, the biggest price reduction in nearly three years.
"the power battery industry has gradually changed from profiteering to meagre profits." Liu Yanlong, secretary general of China Chemical and physical Power Industry Association, analyzed and said. As a result, the industry is more worried that the Ningde era can bear the pressure of price reduction.
In addition, faced with the problem of serious overcapacity in the power battery market.According to the Ningde Times prospectus, its capacity utilization has declined year after year: lithium-ion battery capacity 17.09GWh in 2017, output 12.91GWh, capacity utilization rate was 75.54%, compared with 96.92% in 2015 and 92.37% in 2016.
According to the plan, the production capacity of Ningde will reach 50GWh by 2020. It far exceeds the production capacity of Tesla, Inc. 's 35GWh and BYD's 34GWh in the same period. Therefore, some experts predict that the future business development in Ningde era may face the risk of market surplus and intensified competition.
"the market is not really overcapacity, but the supply and demand structure is not very reasonable." "Automotive Business Review" interviewed battery industry insiders said, "the new energy vehicle market will not show crazy growth phenomenon, the development to a certain stage will become orderly."
"the price adjustment of battery materials mainly depends on the industrial scale, product technology upgrading and so on." "the industry is worried about the rising price of raw material cobalt, but in fact, the volume of cobalt is very large, but the supply relationship is not balanced," the person said. "
As a parts enterprise, while expanding its own development, it is more necessary to guard against the competitive environment. "Weichai Power is an obvious example. When the domestic power system is scarce, vehicle companies buy one after another. With the entry of their own R & D and external forces, sales obviously lack stamina." Cao he said.
At present, power battery has gradually become a commodity, which is embodied in the same technical route of each battery factory, overlapping material suppliers and overlapping equipment suppliers. This means that the gap in the technological level of battery enterprises is gradually narrowing.