Changan New Energy's 5 billion yuan financing successfully ended Changan Automobile's transformation and upgrading has ushered in a new starting point

Reporter Wang He

On January 24, Chongqing Changan New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Changan New Energy") announced the successful completion of the B round of financing work in 2021, which lasted for one year, and finally raised 4.9773 billion yuan, exceeding the planned financing of nearly 2 billion yuan.

The relevant person in charge of Changan Automobile told the Securities Daily reporter: "The successful B round of financing of Changan New Energy, the internal realization of mechanism and system innovation, strengthening the foundation; external realization of complementary resource advantages, strengthen competitiveness, will accelerate the layout of Changan Automobile's 'Shangri-La Plan' and achieve the long-term development goals of Changan Automobile." ”

"The landing of Changan New Energy's B round of financing, in addition to providing financial support for the new energy vehicle business, can also obtain the resource blessing of investors to form a synergy effect to promote the development of Changan Automobile's new energy vehicle business and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises." IPG China chief economist Bo Wenxi said.

Series B financing landed

Changan Automobile was registered and established chongqing Changan New Energy Automobile Technology Co., Ltd. in May 2018, and Changan New Energy was officially established in 2019.

In November 2019, the first round of financing of Changan New Energy was completed, and four strategic investors such as Changxin Equity Fund, Liangjiang Fund, Southern Industrial Fund, and Nanjing Runke Production and Investment were successfully introduced, and Changan New Energy officially entered the fast lane of rapid development. From 2019 to 2021, Changan New Energy sold a total of 156,000 vehicles; in 2021, Changan New Energy sales exceeded 100,000 vehicles, an increase of nearly 300% year-on-year, ranking first in the industry.

Changan New Energy's B round of financing work was officially launched in April 2021, originally planned to raise 3 billion yuan, after nearly 200 negotiations, three rounds of screening, identified nine high-quality investors, and then after several rounds of communication, and finally successfully completed the delisting of investment institutions on December 23, 2021.

According to the "Announcement on Related Party Transactions of Associated Enterprises Increasing Capital and Expanding Shares by Public Listing" issued by Changan Automobile, the B-round value-added of Changan New Energy has been invested by 10 units, including Changan Automobile, raising a total of about 4.9773 billion yuan. According to reports, in the process of capital increase and share expansion, Changan New Energy set strict screening requirements and standards for the selection of investors, and finally obtained the result of over-raising nearly 2 billion yuan. Changan New Energy's independent financing and development, through mutual empowerment among shareholders, upstream and downstream layout of the industrial chain, innovative marketing models, accelerated product development, and accelerated the development of Changan's new energy vehicle business. In terms of marketing model, Changan New Energy will abandon the traditional 4S store model and actively build a direct sales model to give users a better experience. In terms of product development, Changan New Energy will list C385 products in the first half of this year, achieving double growth in sales and profits.

Facing the future, Changan New Energy has also planned a new goal, which will be positioned as "the world's first-line mainstream electric vehicle brand" and its sales volume will exceed 700,000 units in 2025, accelerating the construction of One of China's top new energy vehicle brands. At the same time, Changan New Energy will also rely on the core capabilities of Changan Automobile's "Core Core Map Cloud Nettian" to achieve the domestic leading software definition capability of new energy vehicles, further make the core technical capabilities of Sandian explicit and structured, lay out the industry forward-looking technology, and create Changan New Energy Black Technology; through data-driven, in accordance with the "online APP + official experience center + direct store" way to carry out marketing channel construction, accelerate the construction of online and offline direct connection, rapid response and continuous iteration of the marketing system.

Changan Automobile's transformation and upgrading accelerated

The landing of the B round of financing has injected new impetus into Changan New Energy's opening of a new round of industrial competition, and at the same time, in the case of Changan Automobile's transformation and upgrading road to open a new starting point, it will also become another major practice of building a "high-end automobile industry cluster in western China".

Looking back at the new energy development process of Changan Automobile, it entered the field of new energy in 2001 and has experienced three stages: technical research (2001-2008), industrialization promotion (2009-2016), and market-oriented operation (2018-present), and Changan Automobile's new energy strategy has completed the positive development process from prototype vehicles to products.

In 2017, Changan Automobile released a new energy strategy, the "Shangri-La Plan", which is expected to completely stop selling fuel vehicles in the traditional sense by 2025 and realize the electrification of full-spectrum products; at the same time, it will formulate "four major strategic actions" - 100 billion actions, 100,000 people research and development, partnership plan, and ultimate experience.

In the 100 billion action, Changan Automobile expects to invest more than 100 billion yuan in the whole industry chain by 2025. Among them, the investment in the research and development of new energy products will exceed 40 billion yuan, the investment in the construction of new energy proprietary platforms will exceed 10 billion yuan, the investment in the field of power batteries will exceed 30 billion yuan, and the investment in sharing, charging facilities and services will reach 20 billion yuan.

The relevant person in charge of Changan Automobile told the Securities Daily reporter that capital is one of the indispensable resources for the current competition in the new energy automobile industry, and Changan Automobile supports Changan New Energy to obtain development funds through equity, debt and public listing. After Changan New Energy completes this round of financing, it plans to complete the public listing around 2025, and Changan Automobile supports Changan New Energy to decide whether to continue to carry out the next round of financing before the IPO according to its development needs.

Bai Wenxi said: "Changan Automobile's veteran car companies have opened a new energy business layout, indicating that the new energy vehicle market has started and entered a period of rapid rise, and at this time, the layout of this field will naturally catch up with the development of the industry and cultivate a second growth curve for Changan Automobile." ”

(Edited by Tian Dong, Shangguan Monroe)