Cailian Press August 14th news (Reporter Liu Mengran), less than a year since the first battery cell went offline and put into operation, Zhejiang Bangjie Holding Group (002634.SZ) subsidiary Yangzhou Bangjie New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. has applied for bankruptcy restructuring. The national enterprise bankruptcy reconstruction case information website shows that Yangzhou Bangjie New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. has applied for bankruptcy reconstruction, and the applicant is Jiangsu Puhui Health Physical Examination Co., Ltd. The public date is August 14th.

In response to this, a spokesperson for the company's securities department replied to a reporter from Cailian Press that the company has noticed the relevant situation. This is the process disclosure after the other party's registration. The company has not yet received any notice and is actively contacting the other party's company to understand the situation. Currently, Yangzhou Bangjie's production and operation are normal.

Bangjie Holding Group's main business was originally seamless outfits. In this round of the photovoltaic cross-border wave, the company invested in the establishment of subsidiaries, Bangjie New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., and Yangzhou Bangjie New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in December 2022, and began laying out the photovoltaic industry. In September 2023, the company's Yangzhou high-efficiency photovoltaic cell project achieved the first production and gradually put into operation. The company's main business transitioned into a dual main business structure of "seamless outfits + photovoltaic".

However, things did not go as planned, and the photovoltaic industry entered a downturn cycle shortly thereafter. According to the company's disclosed 2024 half-yearly performance forecast, the company's net profit loss for the first half of the year was between 120 million and 160 million yuan, a profit of 10.5173 million yuan in the same period of the previous year. The report mentioned that the main reason for the loss was the intensified market competition in the photovoltaic industry, and the continuous decline in the price of photovoltaic battery products led to a net loss of the company's photovoltaic business.

From a planning perspective, Bangjie Holding Group's total investment in the photovoltaic industry is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan. In December 2022, it invested in the construction of a 10GW high-efficiency photovoltaic cell sheet project in Yangzhou, with a total planned investment of approximately 2.6 billion yuan; in May 2023, the company announced that it was investing in the construction of a 16GW (8GW+8GW) N-type efficient battery sheet in Quzhou, Zhejiang. The second phase will also build a 16GW large-size photovoltaic silicon wafer slicing project, with a project total investment of approximately 8 billion yuan; in July 2023, Bangjie's Yangzhou Phase II project was launched, which will be used for the new energy R&D center and supporting high-efficiency photovoltaic component capacity construction, with a fixed asset investment of approximately 1 billion yuan.

Since 2023, the capacity of the photovoltaic industry has expanded greatly, and new capacity has been released continuously. Under structural adjustments, product prices have fallen to the bottom. According to Infolink data, by the end of July, the mainstream transaction price of battery cells had fallen to RMB 0.29 per watt. Analysis pointed out that considering the current profitability situation, the continued negative gross profit of over 10% has continued to affect the market sentiment, and enterprises are struggling to hold on to the price range of RMB 0.29-0.3 per watt.

Some market participants told reporters from Cailian Press that under the sudden cooling of the industry, some cross-border enterprises are under greater pressure in production and operation. On August 5th of this year, Huadong Heavy Machinery (002685.SZ), which focuses on container handling equipment business, announced that it would abandon its original plan to invest 6 billion yuan in a 10GW N-type battery cell project and switch to GPU chip enterprises; On August 10th, Suzhou Medicalsystem Techology (603990.SH), which focuses on medical informatization and medical services, announced that it would divest Xin Hao New Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary acquired a year ago.

According to statistics from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, the growth rate of the photovoltaic industry's capacity expansion has slowed down. In the first half of this year, compared with the main links in the production chain, such as polysilicon, silicon wafers, battery cells, and modules, the number of investment, construction, and planned projects has decreased by 75% year-on-year, and more than 20 projects have announced termination or delay.