Briefly describe the capital injection expansion of Japanese and Korean power battery enterprises

In recent years, under the strong impetus of the National subsidy policy and the precise protection of the battery catalog, the share of a group of local battery companies represented by the Ningde era has grown rapidly. However, with the end of new energy car subsidies in 2020, many foreign battery giants re-entered the domestic market, so that the independent brand felt unprecedented pressure.

Starting in April, three major Korean battery companies, including Samsung, LG and SKI, changed their quiet stance and launched a high-profile new round of investments in China, the securities daily noted.

On April 11th, Huayou Cobalt announced that it plans to jointly invest 4 billion yuan with LG Chemical to establish two joint venture companies to produce lithium battery materials, and the two parties will each control one of the joint venture companies; SKI also recently announced that it will invest 86.4 billion won to restart a joint venture project in China in 2016 for the production of battery materials.

On May 2, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Vice President Li visited BYD in Shenzhen. The trip was interpreted as an attempt to seize the rapid growth of Chinese electric vehicles and expand the sales of chips and power cell upstream components in the Chinese auto industry.

Japan’s Matsushita CEO Jin Heyihong recently announced at the annual earnings conference that he will work with Tesla to produce batteries in China. He said that Panasonic has always wanted to enter China's expanding electric vehicle and battery market. With the subsidies falling back and the WTO regulations, the imprisonment of power battery forces in China is dissipating.

Group strong circle service for 2020

In 2017, the power battery industry ushered in a bumper year. China contributed more than half of the 1.42 million new energy vehicles sold last year, according to the data, and battery demand rose 30 per cent from a year earlier. However, the apparent prosperity can not hide the stage problems facing the development of the market. The industrial pattern has obviously emerged.

As early as the beginning of April, Waterma, the fifth largest global power battery sales volume and the third largest Chinese power battery sales volume, had a debt default of 2 billion yuan, and the overall debt was as high as 22.138 billion yuan. In addition, many small and medium-sized power battery companies have closed down under cost pressure. In contrast, in the era of Ningde, which was the first in global power battery sales in 2017, it was approved by the IPO on May 18 and raised funds of 5.44 billion yuan.

On the one hand, the new energy car subsidy policy ended two years later; On the other hand, our country is going to Sprint 2 million new energy vehicles sales target. The expiration of policy protection and the huge gap in quality production capacity provide opportunities for Korean batteries to re-enter the Chinese market. In fact, Samsung SDI made it clear in its first-quarter results: "we will prepare [China's] new energy car subsidy policy to end by 2020. "

It is worth noting that in this round of Korean battery investment, considering the avoidance of policy risks, the cooperation with local companies has been strengthened -- of course, it is generally the weaker domestic strength, the accumulation of lithium-free electricity technology, or the weak willingness to develop in the area of lithium electricity. At the same time, South Korean companies also extended the layout to the upper reaches of the industrial chain, including SKI's joint venture and LG and new joint venture battery companies have adopted this strategy.

The reporter noted that in 2017 LG Chemical, Samsung SDI and Panasonic companies invested 3.5 billion yuan, 2.8 billion yuan and 2 billion yuan respectively in research and development, while Ningde, the largest leading power battery company in China, spent only about a billion yuan in research and development in the same period. The gap is even wider among other local companies.

Power battery experts told the "Securities Reporter" that due to R&D accumulation, R&D investment, technology route selection and other reasons, domestic battery companies 'product competitiveness, service facilities compared to South Korean enterprises still gap. "The raw materials and production costs of the family are low and the degree of automation is high. It is difficult to fight a price war when the technical skills are not as good as they are. "

Once shield, now sword.

In this context, the China Automobile Association issued the "Notice on the Declaration of the White List of Automobile Power Battery and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Industry." Once the notice was issued, the industry caused strong repercussions. Some industry insiders believe that the white list as a high-quality label will promote the transformation of the supply relationship between the vehicle company and the power battery manufacturer from "relationship type" to "strength type". Companies that are expected to be approved for the white list will accelerate the opening of technical positions with the middle and lower reaches of the company.

According to the "Securities Daily" reporter, the "white list" in the power battery field is not the first time it has been proposed. As early as 2015, China's production and sales of new energy vehicles ranked first in the world for the first time. Then the Korean battery companies represented by Samsung and LG expanded outwards with the volume of national companies, used a loss strategy to clean up their opponents, and competed for and monopolized the market.

At that time, when the factory price of the autonomous brand power battery system was still generally at 2.5-3 yuan/Wh, South Korean manufacturers directly reduced the price of the 18650 nickel-cobalt manganese ternary battery to about 1 yuan/Wh. And with the "high quality and low price" locked Chirui, Geely, Chang 'an, SAIC, FAW and other mainstream passenger car companies supply agreements.

As a result, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology quickly launched the "Standard Conditions for the Automobile Power Battery Industry", which will include enterprises that have passed the requirements of the standard conditions in the catalogue for management. The move directly announced the exit of Korean batteries -- a total of 57 power battery monomers and systems companies selected, and no foreign companies.

By the beginning of 2016, with the issuance of the "bus ban on the use of ternary batteries" notice, the domestic power battery security line was formally built-the main plant has suspended the purchase agreement with foreign battery companies to switch to their own embrace.

By November 2016, power batteries were in the grip of mergers and acquisitions, and industry concentration continued to increase. At this time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Standard Conditions for the Automobile Power Battery Industry (2017)"(consultation draft) in due course. The reporter noted that the capacity requirement for the draft opinion was 40 times higher than in 2015.

In fact, compared to the first "rescue" and the second "promotion". The purpose of the country's white list is clearly to support and guide the growth and growth of domestic independent brands. Today, the third-generation power battery has been mass-produced. The role of the third white list is to launch a technical assault on foreign brands, accelerate the concentration of resources, and enhance international competitiveness.

Industry insiders say the new white list will focus on technology development and upgrading. Companies entering the "3.0 White List" will be more likely to receive higher ratings and larger funding when applying for project financing with a national capital background, and local governments will also use it as an important reference for the introduction of projects. Give preferential policies.

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