Caixin Network reported on December 18 (Reporter Zeng Chuchu) Argus (603790.SH) announced the termination of its significant asset restructuring matter that was first announced in April 2023 after nearly two years.

Argus announced tonight that the company originally planned to acquire 100% of Chengdu Yingming Zhitong Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yingming Zhitong") through a combination of issuing shares and paying cash, while raising matching funds. This transaction was expected to constitute a significant asset restructuring. Due to the prolonged duration of this transaction and certain fluctuations and changes in the macro and industry environments, after comprehensive consideration of the current market environment and other factors, the company decided to terminate this transaction.

Generally, listed companies undergo significant asset restructuring mainly to integrate their business with that of the target company, achieve resource sharing and collaborative development, improve resource utilization efficiency, and enhance the company's comprehensive competitiveness.

The main business of Argus and Yingming Zhitong can be described as "completely different." Argus mainly engages in the research, production, sales of mid-to-high-end dyes and textile auxiliaries, as well as related dyeing and finishing and digital color application technology services. In contrast, Yingming Zhitong is a distributed new energy service provider focused on battery swap operations for new energy vehicles, providing battery swap services, integrated charging, and battery swap products and services.

The proposal disclosed by Argus in November last year titled "Proposal for Issuing Shares and Paying Cash to Purchase Assets and Raising Matching Funds and Related Transactions" (hereinafter referred to as "the proposal") shows that the target company does not belong to Argus's same industry or its upstream/downstream, and there is no synergistic effect with the company's main business. This transaction also constitutes a related transaction.

In addition, the two companies have similar revenue, with Argus's 2022 revenue at 0.768 billion yuan and Yingming Zhitong at 0.742 billion yuan. Argus stated that upon completion of this transaction, the listed company will continue to operate its original business, forming a dual-main business development model with the target assets, both of which will jointly constitute an important source of revenue for the listed company, and there will be no fundamental changes to the listed company's main business.

Argus mentioned in the proposal that this transaction would help enhance the listed company's core competitiveness in the new energy industry, provide new profit growth points, and achieve leapfrog diversified development.

After the disclosure of the plan, there has been no substantial progress aside from two revisions. Since the beginning of this year, the company has disclosed monthly progress announcements regarding the restructuring matters, all concluding with "the company and relevant parties are orderly advancing the related work of this trade, and the company will follow up based on the progress of this trade."

It is worth noting that in the proposed plan, Argus mentioned that risks related to the target company include: if a major alternative technology for Battery recharging emerges, it could have a certain impact on the market covered by the target company's main business, leading to adverse changes in downstream market demand for the target company's existing products.

On the news front, today, lithium battery leader Contemporary Amperex Technology (300750.SZ) announced a new battery swap strategy. The company's founder, Director, and CEO, Zeng Yuqun, stated that based on market demand, it is determined that by 2030, battery swapping, home charging, and public charging will each take a third of the market. Contemporary Amperex Technology plans to build 1,000 chocolate battery swap stations by 2025; in contrast, NIO has built 2,800 battery swap stations over the past six years.