Volkswagen Takeover Hsu High Tech Suspicion: An Undercurrent Behind Oolong

In the evening of April 22nd, the State Council announced that the board of directors had not considered the proposal for Volkswagen to buy shares, nor had it received notice from the Volkswagen board of directors to approve relevant matters, and the board of directors had not received notice from the controlling shareholder about the transfer of shares and actual control.

Volkswagen Group shares 002074.SZ.

On the morning of April 21st, media reports said that according to "people close to the incident", Volkswagen had approved the approval of the board of directors by the board of directors. It will become the largest shareholder of GuoXuan hi tech through the way of private placement and equity transfer.

These people also broke the details of the above transactions. It is said that the scale of the increase is "no more than 30% of the shares", plus part of the shares of the transfer agreement, Volkswagen will become the largest shareholder of the national high tech group, and in the next three years, Volkswagen will also become the controlling shareholder of the national high tech group.

Affected by the above news, the A shares of the national high tech stock exchange closed in April 21st and continued to rise 4.19% in April 22nd. On the evening of April 21st, the management department of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a letter of concern to Guo Xuan Gao, demanding that the company announce the relevant information and conduct a self-examination of the company's secrecy work to show whether there was any leakage of insider information.

But it turned out that this time it was oolong. In the evening of April 22nd, the State Council announced that the board of directors had not considered the proposal for Volkswagen to buy shares, nor had it received notice from the Volkswagen board of directors to approve relevant matters, and the board of directors had not received notice from the controlling shareholder about the transfer of shares and actual control.

It needs to be pointed out that the long story of Volkswagen's stake in the national high tech company has been traced back to last year. In mid January, there were also media reports that Volkswagen plans to buy GuoXuan hi tech stock, and the proportion of shares is 20%, the transaction will start in the next few weeks. At that time, the company announced that the company was discussing strategic cooperation with Volkswagen, but had not yet reached a consensus on specific ways of cooperation and did not sign any agreements.

Roger Nissim

Both sides were somewhat ambiguous about the takeover. However, judging from the point of time, there are many doubts about the news.

The first is media coverage. Zhu Yulong, an automotive insider, wrote on the personal content platform that after the news of January that the popular takeover of HVDC shares was held, the local media in Germany was "very strange" without any information. "Because in accordance with the decision-making process, this should be from the German side. (but) at present, the most important task for the public is to start preparing for resuming work.

Analysis of the revelations expressed in the details of the fixed increase and the new rules for refinancing, the acquisition seems to have been reached within the board of directors of the national high tech group, and if the relevant board of directors was convened by Guo Xuan Gao and passed the important motion, it will be disclosed at the first time in accordance with the requirements of the exchange and the company's practice.

In the past year, the information signed by the State Council on the investment and cooperation agreement was disclosed at the first time, such as the "Cooperation Framework Agreement" signed with Geely commercial vehicle. And three months ago, the national high tech company also announced that it did not sign or conclude any substantive binding agreements, commitments or other arrangements with Volkswagen on the relevant cooperation matters.

During this period, the new crown pneumonia epidemic is spreading all over the world. Volkswagen, as the largest auto group in the world, is also experiencing challenges. Volkswagen Group's profit fell 80% in the first quarter of this year, and has withdrawn this year's performance outlook. Under such circumstances, can the acquisition be arranged in a priority position and can be knocked on board?

In addition, from the business level, there are some hurdles in the investment company, because the main product of the company is lithium iron phosphate battery, rather than the current three yuan lithium battery used by mainstream passenger cars. For Volkswagen, the acquisition of HVDC will face the choice of route switching.

It is worth mentioning that at present, Volkswagen's battery partners in China are still in the Ningde era.

"At this point of time, it's a bit out of date." Zhu Yulong said, Volkswagen has been in the country for a long time battery supplier screening, in addition to the Ningde era, LG chemical and other manufacturers are potential partners, to the national Xuan Gao branch injection, and other battery business relationship may not be able to balance, and even if you buy the national high tech, it is also very difficult to directly on the domestic MEB platform.

In the short term, the company did not even offer Volkswagen's plan. Another detail of the stock market rumors is that there have been rumors in the near future that the Audi Q7 electric version will use the products of the national Xuan Gao Ke, but it will soon be denied by Gao Xuan.

For Volkswagen's stake in the company, the only positive response of the top executives of the company was at the media conference last August. At that time, some media reported that Volkswagen was considering investing in China's battery makers, possibly by buying shares or jointly establishing joint ventures, while the national high tech company was one of the intent parties. In this regard, Ma Guifu, deputy director of the National High Tech Department, said: "Hefei is a good place." Guo Xuan is a good company. Women friends, girlfriends and wives are different. " He also said that he could not become a girlfriend because he had eaten two meals with other people, and he needed further contact.

What is the possibility of equity participation?

Although Guo Xuan Gao denied that Volkswagen became the largest shareholder, the cooperation between the two sides is still in progress. The caliber is consistent with that of three months ago: the company discussed with Volkswagen about strategic cooperation in the future technology, products and capital, but the two sides have not yet reached a consensus on specific ways of cooperation, content and price.

However, Guo Xuan hi tech also said that it had recently conducted consulting and demonstration on related issues such as refinancing, and was interested in choosing non-public offering stocks. However, the quantity and distribution plan is not yet clear, and has not yet come to the stage of disclosure. Judging from this behavior, Guo Xuan hi tech really intends to introduce new shareholders.

If Volkswagen really becomes a shareholder of the national high tech group, it will be the first in the industry. This will be the first time that a car company has become a mature power battery manufacturer. Despite the strengthening of the electrification trend, many car companies have deepened their cooperation with power battery manufacturers. However, the common pattern is the establishment of joint ventures between the two sides, such as the Ningde times and SAIC, BYD and TOYOTA.

Volkswagen had already been a pioneer in power battery companies. At present, Volkswagen's power battery partners in Europe are Swedish start-ups Northvolt AB. The two sides have announced cooperation in research and development of batteries and joint ventures. At the same time, Volkswagen also said it would get about 20% of Northvolt AB.

Logically speaking, if Volkswagen is a member of the national high tech group, it is also reasonable to lay a good foundation for the electrification strategy in China. Insiders believe that having its own battery factory in China is a key link in the strategy of Volkswagen's electric gasification strategy in Europe and Northvolt AB.

Fang Jianhua, partner and President of the new energy automotive venture capital sub fund, told the reporter that China is one of the most important markets of Volkswagen and the market focus of the electrification strategy. Obviously, it is not very realistic to import batteries from Europe to China.

According to Volkswagen's plan, the group will deliver 22 million pure electric vehicles worldwide in 2028, more than half of which are made in China, and by 2025, the annual sales of electric vehicles in China will reach 1 million 500 thousand, and the demand for power batteries will reach 75GWh - four times the total installed capacity of 2018 in the Ningde era.

On the other hand, the national high tech company is the top three power battery manufacturer in China. Fang Jianhua pointed out that although there is still a certain gap between BYD and Ningde, the comprehensive ability of the company is good. "A complete system, a mature R & D team, a comprehensive industrial layout, and a certain reserve capacity."

Data show that the existing capacity of 16GWh is up to 35GWh, which basically meets the needs of Volkswagen in the near future.

"From the analysis of the entry path of multinational car companies, it is still very possible." Cao Hao, President of the all vehicle Investment Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. also said that the path of multinational car companies entering new energy vehicles is that they have been trained almost domestically and so on, and cut in all of a sudden. The most important way is to buy or buy strategic enterprises that are relatively high in scale and technology.