“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, September 11 (Reporter Chen Mei) Recently, the Ningde Era “organized” a new fund in Xiamen. According to the announcement, Ningde Times signed investment agreements with Xiamen Puquan Private Placement and Shenzhen Puquan Investment. The former pledged 0.7 billion yuan as an LP to participate in the Fujian Times Zeyuan Carbon Neutrality Equity Investment Fund partnership (limited partnership).

According to the partnership agreement, the size of the fund exceeds 5 billion yuan. Xiamen Puquan Private Equity and Shenzhen Puquan Investment will act as GPs to manage the fund. Equity penetration shows that Ningde Era New Energy Industry Investment directly holds 45% of the shares in Xiamen Puquan Private Placement, while another GP, Shenzhen Puquan Investment, is a private equity subsidiary of Xiamen Puquan.

As a result, the investment map of the Ningde era “settled” again in Xiamen.

“CVC+ local state-owned capital”, a new fund was born in Xiamen

This new fund, which is over 5 billion yuan in size, invests mainly in the fields of new energy and high-end manufacturing. Judging from the LP composition, this base metal is a typical “CVC+ local state-owned capital” cooperation model.

According to the announcement, the LP strength of this fund, which was invested in during the Ningde era, is quite strong. According to partner information, Xiamen Industry-Guided Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Xiamen Torch Industry Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd., Xiamen Science City Innovation Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Tongxiang Jinxin Equity Investment Co., Ltd., Ningde Huiju Xinneng Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Luoyang Industrial Development Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) are all local state-owned funds.

Among them, Xiamen Industry-Guided Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Xiamen Torch Industry Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd., and Xiamen Science City Innovation Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) invested 0.8 billion yuan, 0.2 billion yuan, and 0.2 billion yuan respectively.

Equity penetration shows that the three partners mentioned above are the funders of Xiamen Jinyuan Group, Xiamen Torch Group, and Xiamen Tongan State-owned Capital Holdings Co., Ltd.

Established in 2011, Xiamen Jinyuan Group is a state-owned financial services enterprise formed by the Xiamen Municipal Committee and Municipal Government, with the Xiamen Municipal Finance Bureau as the sole funder. As a “pioneer team” for cultivating strategic emerging industries, Xiamen Industrial Investment, a subsidiary of Xiamen Jinyuan Group, undertakes the role of a platform for major industrial investment and selection of industrial circuits in Xiamen, and provides think tank support and capital momentum.

Up to now, Xiamen Industrial Investment has invested in emerging industries such as Tianma Display (000050), China Airlines (03931.HK), Qingyuan Co., Ltd. (603628), and Silan Micro (600460) through “investment promotion”, driving the agglomeration of flat panel displays, integrated circuits, new energy, and semiconductor industry chains.

On the other hand, it is entrusted with managing 100 billion dollar municipal industrial investment funds, and Xiamen Jinyuan Group is also cooperating with GPs such as CICC, Sequoia, Dinghui, Gaoyuan, and Yuyue Capital to build a “circle of friends” for state-owned enterprises in industries such as China Electronics, Zhongbing, and China Resources.

According to the Bank of Xiamen, by the end of 2023, the majority shareholder Jinyuan Group had total assets of 66.279 billion yuan. Among them, net assets were 34.834 billion yuan, and equity investment balance was 22.335 billion yuan, accounting for 64.11% of net assets.

In addition to Xiamen's state-owned assets, state-owned investment platforms such as the Zhejiang Tongxiang Finance Bureau, the Fujian Ningde State-owned Assets Administration Commission, and the Luoyang State-owned Assets Administration Commission have also invested. According to the announcement, Tongxiang Jinxin Investment invested 0.6 billion yuan, Ningde Huiju Xinneng invested 0.507 billion yuan, and the Luoyang Industrial Development Fund invested 0.5 billion yuan.

In addition, the Ningde Era, an 820 billion yuan industrial giant, has gathered a group of powerful investors in Xiamen.

From lithium batteries to energy storage, Ning Wang is playing the next big game

The Ningde era has always been the leader in lithium batteries and the “investment king” of the industry.

According to data from the Financial Services Association Venture Capital Connect - Central Administration, the total number of foreign investment funds in the Ningde Era reached 16; in direct investment, Ningde Era actively participated in 113 investment incidents, and the cumulative investment amount exceeded 18 billion yuan. Among them, 5 companies were listed, namely Polar Krypton, Microconductive Nano, Hunan Yuneng, Microconductive Nano, and Jevart, and 8 companies achieved mergers and acquisitions.

Up to now, through investment, the Ningde Era has laid out various fields such as energy and mining - batteries and energy storage technology, automobile transportation - automotive vehicles, electronic information - semiconductors, traditional manufacturing - traditional manufacturing, other, traditional manufacturing - machinery and equipment, and energy and mining - energy and mining, etc.

Among them, in the field of energy and mining - batteries and energy storage technology, Ningde had the highest number of incidents, reaching 28, with an investment amount of nearly 4 billion yuan.

In recent years, the new energy industry in Xiamen has been developing strongly, forming two industrial “advantage chains”: new energy batteries and new power systems. In the new energy battery industry chain, the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that China Airlines has launched a 10 billion new energy project in Xiamen.

The project is divided into three phases. The first phase of the project invests 5 billion yuan, with an annual production capacity of 10 GWh; the second phase of the project realizes fully automated production of batteries, modules, and PACK; the total investment of the third phase of the project is 20 billion yuan, with an annual output value of about 32 billion yuan after delivery, with a planned production capacity of 40 GWh. Currently, China Airlines has established cooperative relationships with Xiaopeng Motors, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Geely Automobile, Changan Automobile, and SAIC-GM-Wuling.

The Xiamen Huoju High-tech Industrial Development Zone said that after the implementation of the China Innovation Aviation Phase III project, Xiamen will become the industrial base with the largest production capacity of China Airlines at present, which is of great significance to the cluster development and investment promotion of the new energy industry in Xiamen.

In terms of new power systems, in June of this year, Ningde Times cooperated with Xiamen City to begin construction of an electrochemical energy storage system construction project (Phase I) in Tongxiang High-tech City in the Xiamen Torch High-tech Zone. With a total investment of about 3 billion yuan, the project aims to build a first-class R&D and innovation platform for R&D, testing and empirical technology for energy storage systems.

Earlier, the “Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of the New Energy Storage Industry in Xiamen (2024-2026)” was released, proposing that Xiamen will focus on developing new energy storage technologies, including electrochemical energy storage, and building a new energy storage industry innovation highland with international influence.

In terms of energy storage battery shipments and market share, the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that in 2023, Ningde Era energy storage battery system sales were 69 GWh, an increase of 46.81% over the previous year, accounting for 40% of global energy storage battery shipments, ranking first in the world for 3 consecutive years. Chairman Zeng Yuqun of Ningde Times estimates that by 2030, the revenue from the energy storage business will be comparable to the boom in the automotive battery business.

In an interview with the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter, an investor said that with policy support, Xiamen is building a new energy industry cluster. The entry of leaders such as the Ningde Era and China Innovation Airlines can form a good industrial ecology and supply chain system.

“As the market demand for new energy sources and energy storage technology grows, and the goal of 'carbon peaking and carbon neutrality' is being promoted, the energy storage market has great potential. Located on the southeast coast, Xiamen has the geographical advantage of radiating domestic and foreign markets, which helped expand the market during the Ningde era.” The investor mentioned that the EVOGO electricity exchange service launched in Xiamen during the Ningde era was also regarded as a new energy storage model.

The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that Xiamen was the first city in the Ningde era to launch an EVOGO electricity exchange service. In April of this year, the first batch of 4 quick change stations in the Ningde era was distributed in Siming District, Huli District, and Haicang District of Xiamen. It is expected that by the end of this year, construction of 30 quick change stations will be completed in Xiamen.

According to data from Xiamen Customs, exports of new energy products represented by lithium batteries were strong in the first half of this year, driven by demand for energy storage products in the international market. Among them, the traditional market of “America, Europe, Japan and Britain” is still the main market for energy storage batteries, with a cumulative export value of 45.763 billion yuan, accounting for 87.79% of total exports.

Currently, the Ningde Era is also increasing its layout in the field of energy storage in terms of business volume and technology. In terms of capacity planning, Ningde Era expects that by 2025 and 2030, its energy storage battery production capacity will reach 500 GWh and 1 TWh, respectively.