Reporter Xia Zhibin zhang Jiazhen reported from Shanghai
A stone stirs up a thousand layers of waves.
A few days ago, the "fruit chain giant" Luxshare Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Luxun Precision", 002475.SZ) issued an announcement that pushed Chery-related companies such as Chery Holdings, Chery Shares and Chery New Energy Vehicles into the public's attention.
According to the announcement, Luxshare Precision and Chery jointly signed the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement in Wuhu, and the two sides laid a strategic partnership. On the basis of the above agreement, Luxshare Precision and Chery New Energy intend to jointly establish a joint venture company specializing in the research and development and manufacturing of new energy vehicles.
In addition, Lixun Precision's controlling shareholder, Lixun Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Luxun Limited"), and Qingdao Wudaokou New Energy Automobile Industry Fund Enterprise (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Qingdao Wudaokou") signed the Equity Transfer Framework Agreement, stipulating that Luxun Limited would purchase 19.88% of the equity of Chery Holdings, 7.87% of the equity of Chery Shares and 6.24% of the equity of Chery New Energy held by Qingdao Wudaokou for 10.054 billion yuan.
After the completion of the above equity transaction, the largest shareholder of Chery Holdings will be re-changed to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Wuhu City, and Qingdao Wudaokou will become the second largest shareholder. In response to the progress of cooperation between the two sides and related issues such as the OEM plan, the relevant person in charge of Chery Holdings said in an interview with the reporter of China Business Daily: "At present, in addition to the announcement information, there is no more information sharing. ”
Join hands to develop the automotive foundry business
The above announcement of Luxun Precision rippled in the market, but Chery, as a partner, appeared to be unusually "low-key" and did not announce more information to the outside world on the above cooperation matters.
"Under the new pattern, the market needs ODM (original design manufacturers) to build cars, which we have the same point of view as Chery's Yin Tongyue (referring to Chery Holdings Chairman Yin Tongyue). Luxun Precision does not build the whole vehicle, but cooperates with Chery New Energy to build a good car for others. On the afternoon of February 13, 2022, Wang Laichun, chairman of Luxun Precision, said at the telephone exchange.
In terms of production capacity, Chery has vehicle production bases and engine plants in many cities in China, with a total production capacity of nearly 2 million vehicles per year. In addition, Chery's passenger car project in Qingdao, Shandong Province, has also been launched, the project plans to invest 13 billion yuan, mainly to produce Tiggo 9X platform series passenger cars, plans to achieve the completion of the production line in November 2022, can produce 300,000 vehicles per year.
Although Chery Group's cumulative sales of cars in 2021 reached 962,000 units, an increase of 31.7% year-on-year, this also means that Chery's current capacity utilization rate is less than half, and building cars for others also promotes the solution of overcapacity.
The reporter learned that in terms of the newly established joint venture company and customers, the joint venture company will be led by Chery, and Luxun Precision will coordinate in terms of business and customers. The ODM business of the two sides has a relatively clear landing project, which will be put into production in about 12 to 18 months, and the joint venture is expected to target the main target business of foreign traditional brand car enterprises and the domestic new Smart EV brand business.
According to the data, the cooperative subsidiary of Lixun Precision and Chery (that is, the joint venture operating entity established for the purpose of carrying out cooperative business) intends to adopt the equity structure of "Luxun Precision subscribes 500 million yuan to hold 30% of the registered capital, and Chery New Energy subscribes 1.167 billion yuan and holds 70% of the registered capital".
"Luxshare Precision can use this as a springboard to march from the consumer electronics industry to the automobile manufacturing industry." In the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Information and Communications Economics Expert Committee member, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law Digital Economy Research Institute Executive Dean Pan Helin view, at present, consumer electronics companies have the ability to expand the supply chain horizontally, with the maturity of the new energy vehicle manufacturing industry supply chain, the threshold for new energy vehicle construction has gradually decreased, such as Luxun Precision and Foxconn have "run" into the field of new energy vehicle foundry, the consumer electronics supply chain competition extended to the field of automobile manufacturing.
"Since new energy vehicles do not require engines, this capacity translation is generally feasible, and at the same time allows ODM companies to achieve more diversified business development and improve the company's performance." For Chery, the cooperation with Lixun Precision allows Chery to stabilize the supply chain and better explore the integration of new energy vehicle technology. Pan and Lin further added.
Or promote the listing of new energy sectors
As the only mainstream independent brand car company in China that has not been listed, Chery is known as a "polytechnic man" in the automotive industry, and the news about its listing is also endless. In fact, as early as 2004, Chery began to seek listing, but the subsequent impact of various factors, the company's listing plan has not yet been completed.
Previously, Chery's demand for funds in the process of rapid development was mainly solved through bank loans, and the financing channels were relatively single. "Landing in the capital market is not only conducive to Chery's establishment of a long-term capital replenishment channel, but also conducive to activating Chery's equity incentive mechanism, so Chery will achieve listing at the fastest speed when conditions permit." Chery has said.
In fact, one of the purposes of Chery's mixed reform is to achieve listing. "Chery's capital increase and share expansion project has been successfully delisted at the end of 2019, and the relevant equity transactions have also been completed. After the completion of the capital increase and share expansion, Chery has put the acceleration of the listing work on the important agenda. In September 2020, in exchanges with a number of media, Chery executives said.
As for the reasons for the delay in landing on the capital market, Yin Tongyue publicly stated that Chery has been immersed in technological innovation in the past, and there is not much practical experience in the operation of the capital market, and it is also the only vehicle company in China that has not been listed. "Many of the new directors sent by the new shareholders (referring to Qingdao Wudaokou) are experts in the banking and securities industries, which is very helpful for promoting Chery's next listing."
The reporter noted that for the plan after investing in Chery, Zhou Jianmin, chairman and founding partner of Beijing Wudaokou, once said, "After Qingdao Wudaokou invested in Chery, adhering to the principle of 'helping not to add chaos', it continued to promote Chery to establish a more market-oriented incentive mechanism, increase the introduction of resources and funds, strengthen capital operation, accelerate the national and global layout, and assist in the landing of the 'Chery 2025 Strategy'." ”
However, in the more than two years since Qingdao Wudaokou took a stake, Chery has not been able to realize its desire to go public. However, according to media reports a few days ago, after Lixun Precision invested in Chery, Chery formed a new listing plan internally: Chery shares, as the core asset of Chery, will give up listing, and will package imaginative new business into Chery New Energy in the future to promote the listing of Chery New Energy to achieve Chery's listing plan.
The above-mentioned media quoted Chery insiders as saying that Chery New Energy is booming, and there is a lot of room for imagination, and it is also on the cusp. "As for which assets are loaded into the company, Chery New Energy will have the next step."
However, the above information has not been confirmed by Chery officials. Compared with other market segments, Chery New Energy's performance can be described as eye-catching. In January 2022, Chery's new energy sales reached 20,635 units, an increase of 1.7 times year-on-year. Among them, the new energy passenger car, driven by star models such as Chery Ant and QQ Ice Cream, completed sales of 19,431 units, a substantial increase of 189.8% year-on-year.
According to the report of Guotai Junan Securities, Chery's new energy models are concentrated in the low-end market, and the presence in developed regions such as Europe, america and North America is weak. "Luxshare Precision's high-quality customer resources will help Chery and the joint venture company enter the automotive supply chain of global technology giants and expand their market share in developed countries."