China Innovation Airlines went to Hong Kong for IPO, and the "outlet" of power batteries is opening

Wen | Zhengning

Source| Bowang Finance

China Innovation Airlines, which once made catalpa Ningde Times and Xiaopeng Automobile "lose their temper", has finally ushered in the phased end of its IPO in Hong Kong after stock transformation and new name change.

The development of new energy vehicles is bright and smooth, but as the top three in the field of power batteries this year, China Innovation Airlines has not been smooth sailing along the way.

Learn from the past, ascend to the far horizon. How does China Innovation Airlines sail through the end, and where will it go?

01

New year and new name, IPO to Hong Kong to start a new voyage

Just entering 2022, with the implementation of RCEP, more and more eyes in the investment market are focused on the field of new energy vehicles.

At this time, China's power battery industry took the lead in sounding the first clarion call in the field of new energy - after two months of joint-stock system transformation, China Innovation Airlines officially launched the process of listing in Hong Kong. If the Hong Kong IPO is successful, it may provide an important boost for it to participate in the global power battery expansion competition.

In fact, this blockbuster news has been eyebrow-raising last year. In November last year, the original "AVIC Lithium Battery" was renamed "China Innovation Airlines", and it attracted the attention of many parties with the third place in the country in terms of installed capacity.

In December last year, it was reported that China Innovation Airlines submitted overseas listing application materials to the CSRC, but the specific listing location was not disclosed.

On January 3, Reuters reported that The listing location of China New Guinea Was selected in Hong Kong, China, with a fundraising scale of US$1 billion (about 6.356 billion yuan). This transaction will attract the participation of a number of investment banks, and also make all walks of life more curious about this "new tiger".

The history of Zhongxin Airlines dates back to 2007. As early as the era of the rise of new energy vehicles, Aviation Industry Corporation of China cooperated with many parties to establish Sky Energy Co., Ltd., which aims to study and overcome the technical problems of lithium batteries.

Subsequently, the company changed its name to AVIC Lithium Battery, and has cooperated with China Air-to-Air Missile Research Institute and Sichuan Chengfei Integrated Technology Co., Ltd., which basically formed the current product system and business scope.

At present, the products of Zhongxin Airlines mainly cover two major systems of lithium iron phosphate batteries and ternary lithium batteries, and the business involves the research and development, production and marketing of power batteries and management systems, energy storage batteries and related integrated products, and battery materials.

Up to now, China Innovation Airlines has received three rounds of financing, with a cumulative public financing amount of more than 12 billion yuan. Its largest shareholder is the state-owned Changzhou Sands Technology Investment Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of about 21.01%.

In terms of industrial layout, China Innovation Aviation has set up six major industrial bases in Changzhou, Luoyang, Xiamen, Chengdu, Wuhan and Hefei, with professional independent R&D innovation research institutes and lithium battery technology innovation exchange platforms with global influence, attracting cooperation from well-known car companies at home and abroad.

Zhongxin Airlines' customers mainly include Changan, GAC Group, Geely Automobile, Dongfeng and other car companies. The company's financial report shows that in 2020, GAC and Changan are the two car companies that have contributed the most to the installed capacity of China's new aviation, accounting for 62% and 74% of their output respectively.

By 2021, on the basis of existing cooperation, China Innovation Airlines has also conducted technical research and judgment with FAW, SAIC, Great Wall Motor, Volkswagen, Daimler and other enterprises, and is expected to open further in-depth cooperation.

On December 13, 2021, Chengfei Integration said on the investor platform that the pre-capital valuation of China Innovation Airlines was 50 billion yuan. At the end of the month, after China Innovation Airlines submitted overseas listing application materials, Chengfei Integration closed with a limit on the last trading day of 2021.

02

Desperate nirvana, three-way battery to help reverse

The several name changes and the replacement of major shareholders of China Innovation Airlines are behind the ups and downs of the company along the way.

In the early days of the company's establishment, the research and development and production of lithium iron phosphate batteries was the main means of operation. Although this kind of battery has good high temperature performance and light weight, the disadvantages are also obvious, that is, the energy density is insufficient, and the consistency is difficult to control.

With the increasingly clear social tendency of new energy vehicles, lithium iron phosphate batteries have slowly failed to meet market demand. In 2017, China introduced a subsidy policy for new energy vehicles, so that ternary lithium batteries on the mainstream stage, domestic cutting-edge power battery companies such as Ningde times, BYD are the first to reverse the direction of research and development, focusing on the research and production capacity of ternary power batteries.

At this time, China Innovation Airlines fell behind. At that time, it was subject to major restructuring and reform, and its business direction could not be adjusted in a timely manner. The rapid changes in the market caught China Innovation Airlines off guard, and in 2017, its installed capacity fell out of the top 10 in the industry, and turned from profit to loss, with a loss of 330 million yuan in 2017, and a sharp increase in losses of 700 million yuan in 2018.

The troubled Zhongxin Airlines welcomed its new helmsman, Liu Jingyu. Under her leadership, the company's business development direction has been greatly adjusted, focusing on the production capacity of ternary power lithium batteries, focusing on opening up new markets for passenger cars.

This strategic instrument has undoubtedly been very successful. With the successful introduction of ternary power battery products of Zhongxin Airlines to the market in August 2018, it has won the favor of large car companies such as Dongfeng, Changan, GAC, geely and other large car companies, becoming the battery supplier of its main models.

This development trend is like a bamboo breaking trend under the leadership of Liu Jingyu, and China Innovation Airlines has replaced the Ningde era as the largest supplier of power batteries for passenger cars of GAC in 2019. In 2020, AVIC all-round orders have risen steadily, and the field of lithium battery cooperation has expanded to five models of Changan New Energy and four models of GAC New Energy.

In December 2021, data released by the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance showed that the annual loading volume of china's domestic power batteries exceeded 7.5GWh, ranking third in the industry, second only to Ningde Times and BYD.

Even looking at the global market, The achievements of China New China Airlines are also on the list. According to data released by SNE Research, a South Korean research institute, from January to November 2021, CATL still occupies the top spot in the global installed power battery capacity, with a market share of 31.8%. Zhongxin Airlines ranked seventh after South Korea's SKI and Samsung SDI, with a market share of 2.7%.

In just four years from the dilemma of huge losses, it is the ternary lithium battery technology that saves Zhongxin Airlines, and the boldness of the leader Liu Jingyu also turns the tide.

03

The road ahead is long, and the challenges and opportunities are constant

The development of Sino-Singapore Airlines is booming, providing the preconditions and economic foundation for the company's smooth IPO. According to the data of Chengfei Integration Annual Report, in 2020, the revenue of China Innovation Airlines reached 2.67 billion yuan and the net profit was 130 million yuan. As of the end of 2020, the company has total assets of 18.7 billion yuan and net assets of 13.3 billion yuan.

Liu Jingyu, who can save China Innovation In case, obviously has a more ambitious and long-term plan for the development of the enterprise. The IPO in Hong Kong will further expand the fundamentals of funding sources and participate in the competition of industry fundraising and expansion.

The development prospects of the new energy automobile industry are very good, but competitors in the field of power batteries are also constantly making efforts to strive for greater benefits. The rise of China Innovation Airlines has aroused the vigilance of industry rivals, and the industry leader Ningde Era has reacted not long ago.

In July 2021, CATL sued Zhongxin Aviation for patent infringement, and the focus of the case fell on invention and utility model patents. However, in the face of the difficulties of the Ningde era, China Innovation Airlines provided sufficient evidence with a firm and keen response posture to prove the principle of independence and autonomy in its product research and development, and all products have passed the risk investigation and filing of professional intellectual property rights.

In the end, China Innovation Airlines won the victory and smoothly carried out the share transformation according to the plan, paving the way for the IPO.

In addition, some emerging battery manufacturers are gradually joining the war. Great Wall Motor's Honeycomb Energy plans to seek listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board this year. A person familiar with the matter exclusively revealed to the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" reporter that "Hive Energy plans to complete the share reform in the second half of 2021, and it is expected to complete the declaration in the first half of 2022." ”

It is true that the right to speak in the industrial chain is still in the hands of the head enterprises, but the higher degree of cooperation and response speed between second-tier battery companies and supply and demand manufacturers will also affect the allocation of resources in the field of power batteries, further intensifying industry competition.

Although the challenges to China's new aviation are continuous, the overall development trend is still good, and there is still a large gap in global power battery production capacity. The research report shows that in the next 5 years, with the rapid growth of global car companies' demand for power batteries, power batteries will be in a state of short supply.