Indeed, as "latecomers", many new forces want to break through the dilemma. On the premise that they can achieve "self-hematopoiesis" without finding a break-even point, a steady stream of external financing has become an important lifeline for their survival. Only when the fanaticism gradually subsided, the false bubble in this market segment began to burst, and the capital market's vision of new forces began to change in essence, and the measurement standards became stricter and stricter.
"Financing is getting harder and harder", and the same dilemma began to spread widely in all new car-making enterprises. Compared with the past, the enthusiasm of domestic pure financial investors has dropped sharply, which has become the pain and embarrassment that the former must face. In this context, some new forces have gradually extended their tentacles to overseas markets and sought the help of more investors, which has become the way they have to survive.
Japanese and Korean capital, take your time.
At the end of last year, when Baiteng Automobile organized an inspection of Nanjing's self-built factory, Ding Qingfen, its chief affairs officer, disclosed the company's financing status to the outside world for the first time: "At present, Baiteng's financial situation is relatively good, and the previously announced financing is also in place. In addition, it also won the South Korean auto parts manufacturer MS? Myoung, a subsidiary of Autotech? Shen? Co.' s strategic financing, the two sides will jointly explore the Korean electric vehicle market in the future. "
Shortly after Korean capital settled in Baiteng, in June 5438+ 10 this year, the latter announced that it had formally reached a strategic cooperation with Marubeni Co., Ltd. of Japan, which would participate in the C round of financing of Baiteng Automobile. At the same time, whether it is Marubeni Corporation of Japan or Mingang of South Korea? Shen? In addition to pure financial investment, the two sides will also carry out strategic cooperation in tourism services, energy solutions, overseas manufacturing, supply chain and sales.
It must be admitted that the presence of Japanese and Korean capital temporarily eased the external recession of Baiteng's delayed delivery and missed listing, and also provided certain financial guarantee for the final mass production delivery of its first mass-produced pure electric vehicle M-Byte in Q2 this year.
In addition to Baiteng, Weilai Automobile, which just delivered the new ES8 on April 19, has also won the favor of Japanese and Korean capital after entering 2020. From February 6th, Weilai announced that it had signed a subscription agreement for convertible bonds with an unrelated Asian investment fund, and then issued and sold convertible bonds with a total principal of 70 million US dollars to the purchaser in the form of non-public offering.
At the same time, in June 5438+ 10, 2020, another unrelated Asian investment fund completed a non-public offering of convertible bonds with similar terms, and the amount of two financing * * * reached $654.38+billion. According to the previous news, Weilai has been in contact with consortia from South Korea and Japan, so there is a high probability that this investor is one of them. Weilai did not disclose more information about specific targets.
By the evening of February 14, Weilai announced that it had completed the convertible bond financing project again, with a total amount of 1 billion USD. The investors were two Asian investment funds, and they were still pure financial investors. The two sides signed a subscription agreement for convertible bonds. On the evening of March 5th, we completed another $235 million convertible bond financing project with an Asian investment fund in a similar way.
A total of $435 million in financing was completed within 30 days, and all investors were Asian investment funds. For Wei Wei, whose total loss is 20 1 10 billion yuan and cash and cash equivalents are only105.6 billion yuan, the timely arrival of Japanese and Korean capital has greatly eased the company's cash flow dilemma.
It is undeniable that both Baiteng and Weilai can get the essence of Japanese and Korean capital investment, or benefit from their certain advantages in product strength or marketing channel construction and brand building. Then, for the new force Singularity Automobile, which is in a precarious situation and constantly exposed to negative news, the greatest significance of obtaining overseas capital assistance is to "save" it between fire and water.
In June 5438+last year 10, Singularity announced that it had officially obtained a new round of financing from Itochu Corporation. After the completion of this round of financing, Itochu Corporation's shareholding in Singularity Automobile reached about 7%. At the same time, after this capital increase and share expansion, Itochu Corporation became the second largest shareholder after Shen, the founder and CEO of the company. Even though the time to market for Singularity's first production car iS6 is constantly delayed, overseas capital is still optimistic about it.
In addition, Bojun Automobile, which has recently been caught in the storm of unpaid wages and financial difficulties, actually obtained financing from Sumitomo Corporation Asia Capital in Japan last year. Therefore, on the whole, when the "enthusiasm" of the domestic capital market for the new forces of car-making has greatly subsided compared with the past, Japanese and Korean capital is slowly coming. The generous financing assistance they brought has also become an important goal for many new car companies.
Bet on the future
What causes Japanese and Korean capital to "love" China's new car-making enterprises? Perhaps the problem still lies in the status quo of "no car investment, betting on the future". First of all, we must admit that the Japanese and Korean capitals mentioned above, such as Marubeni Corporation of Japan, Itochu Corporation, and Mingang of South Korea? Shen? The companies are all commercial groups with high comprehensive strength in China.
Among them, Marubeni Co., Ltd., as a representative large-scale comprehensive trading company in Japan, has a history of more than 40 years since 1858 was founded. Headquartered in Tokyo and Osaka, with a capital of 654.38+094 billion yen, the company is one of the five largest comprehensive trading companies in Japan. Looking around the world, Marubeni Co., Ltd. has also set up 126 overseas branches and 459 investment enterprises in more than 74 countries, and its business development process is good.
With such a strong strength and backed by the Japanese market, which is at the forefront of the global automobile manufacturing industry, why did Marubeni still choose to enter China and invest in a new force like Baiteng to build a car? "I don't want to but I don't have a car vote" may be the answer. In other words, the root of the problem is that Japan has no real new force to build cars.
As for the reason why new forces can't be born and coexist in Japan, on the one hand, its market is leading in terms of industry maturity, supplier system and product research and development, and it has not diversified its new energy market. On the contrary, all industry resources are gradually tilting towards Toyota, Honda and Nissan. On the other hand, based on the terminal sales of 5 million vehicles in 20 18 Japanese automobile market, the market share of new energy vehicles is only about 0.47%, which is 25,000 vehicles. Therefore, "the cake becomes smaller" has also become an unfavorable factor affecting the survival of its new force.
At the same time, compared with China's strong support and promotion of the pure electric technology route, the Japanese government is also increasing its assistance to the new energy industry, but from the final effect, domestic consumers' acceptance of hybrid electric vehicles is much higher than that of pure electric vehicles. The data shows that in the first half of 20 19 alone, hybrid vehicles accounted for more than 90% of the total sales of new energy vehicles in Japan, while electric vehicles accounted for less than 2%.
In addition, hydrogen fuel vehicles have also had a certain impact on the popularization and promotion of pure electric vehicles in Japan. It is reported that as early as 1973, the "Hydrogen Energy Association" was established in Japan, and a group of professional researchers developed hydrogen energy technology. Forty years later, in 20 13, the Japanese government even took the development of hydrogen energy as a national policy and began the preliminary construction of hydrogen refueling stations. From enterprises to industries to countries, it can be seen that Japan's emphasis on pure electricity technology is not in an order of magnitude compared with hydrogen energy.
Undeniably, when many car companies in China, the United States, Europe and other market segments began to make large-scale transformation and made efforts in the field of pure electric, Japanese car companies and the Japanese government were more like a "clean stream", revealing conservatism everywhere, because they were not as radical as the former in finalizing the development route of pure electric. Therefore, a combination of various factors has led to the situation that domestic capital "goes out to sea" and enters the China market to invest in new car-making enterprises.
As for South Korea's auto market, like Japan, resources are too concentrated in head car companies, and the new energy market is small in magnitude. The government has not yet finalized the pure circuit line, which has also become the main reason why new forces cannot be born and survive in their own country. Therefore, it is inevitable that their capital will enter the neighboring China market and invest in new forces to build cars.
As the pattern of China's new energy market has been fixed, it is imperative for these Japanese and Korean capital groups to re-select a market with broader prospects and more investment choices, lay out ahead and bet on the future, and China's new forces have become their first choice.
As far as the market is concerned, even from July 2065438+2009, government subsidies to the new energy industry began to "decline", resulting in a decline in sales for several months. At the same time, after entering 2020, this market segment will be severely impacted by the epidemic. However, it is undeniable that the outside world is still full of confidence in the future with the recent official announcement that subsidies will be officially postponed to 2022, and local governments' consumption stimulus policies for new energy vehicles have been introduced one after another.
According to the data released by the Federation, the wholesale sales of new energy vehicles in China reached 106 million in 20 19, up by 5. 1% year-on-year. Although the promotion momentum slowed down in the second half of the year, the overall sales volume is still rising, ranking first in the world. The huge prospect of this market segment has also become a "catalyst" for the rapid growth of many new forces in China.
Up to now, despite incomplete statistics, more than ten new car-making enterprises across the country have achieved mass production delivery. Regardless of whether their products can stand the test of industry and consumers, these OEMs have gained short-term dividends from the continuous development of China's new energy market. For this reason, Japanese and Korean capital saw the huge development potential of the new force, and it is not difficult to understand why they chose to bet on the latter.
But historical experience often tells us that opportunities and crises always coexist. A sudden epidemic has accelerated the new forces that have started to build cars again, and a thorough industry reshuffle is intensifying among them. Pay cuts, layoffs, cancellation of year-end awards, arrears of loans to suppliers, and arrears of wages are all adverse events, which once again prove that any new force cannot relax in a difficult situation and will go straight to the abyss of destruction if it is not careful.
As for the Japanese and South Korean capital that "loves" China's new forces alone, the "blue ocean" that once spied has already become a "red sea". If you want to share the cake in the future, you must keep your eyes open and be very careful.
Text/Cui
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This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.