The announcement was canceled after only 5 days! Yongtai Technology missed out on "Ning Wang" investment: the involved parties failed to reach a consensus on the transaction plan.

Suspended trading for one week, trading has been terminated.

On the evening of February 13, Yongtai Technology (002326.SZ), a lithium battery material manufacturer listed on the A-share market, announced the termination of its plan to issue shares to purchase assets and raise supporting funds. Previously, on February 8, Yongtai Technology stated that the company planned to purchase a 25% stake in Shaowu Yongtai High-tech Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yongtai High-tech”) held by CATL (300750.SZ) through share issuance and to raise supporting funds. The two parties had signed a Letter of Intent for the equity acquisition, and the company’s stock was suspended from trading starting February 9. However, in the announcement on February 13, Yongtai Technology stated that after careful consideration, the company decided to terminate this transaction plan, and its stock will resume trading from the opening on February 24.

Yongtai Technology explained the reasons for the termination of this highly anticipated transaction.

“Since establishing the transaction intention with the counterparty, the company has organized intermediaries and relevant parties to promote the transaction in an orderly manner. Due to the inability of the relevant parties to reach a consensus on the transaction plan, and considering the company’s actual situation and external factors, after prudent evaluation and full communication with the relevant parties, the company has decided to terminate this transaction plan,” Yongtai Technology said in the announcement.

Caijing noted that Yongtai High-tech has always been a very important subsidiary of Yongtai Technology. According to financial reports, Yongtai High-tech’s 134,000-ton liquid lithium salt industrialization project, the second phase expansion of lithium battery materials, and the 1005 workshop expansion are all listed as “important ongoing projects” by Yongtai Technology.

Under the original transaction plan, CATL would transfer its equity in Yongtai High-tech and instead hold shares in Yongtai Technology’s listed company. The cooperation relationship between the two would upgrade from “subsidiary shareholder” to “listed company shareholder.” From the capital market’s perspective, this signified an upgrade in their strategic partnership.

Before announcing this equity transaction, Yongtai Technology had just disclosed its 2025 performance forecast on January 29.

The forecast showed that Yongtai Technology expected to achieve operating revenue of 5 billion to 5.5 billion yuan in 2025; net profit attributable to the parent was forecasted to be a loss of 25.6 million to 48.6 million yuan, and non-recurring net profit attributable to the parent was expected to be a loss of 19 million to 38 million yuan, with both indicators reducing losses by about 90%.

“During the reporting period, the rapid release of demand in the new energy vehicle and energy storage industries drove a significant year-on-year increase in sales volume and prices of the company’s core lithium battery materials, leading to a substantial increase in gross profit from main business, which became the core driver for the company’s loss reduction,” Yongtai Technology stated in the forecast.

For Yongtai Technology, if the company can fully control Yongtai High-tech through this transaction, it could accelerate the company’s performance recovery amid the sustained boom in the lithium battery sector. Additionally, bringing CATL into the list of shareholders could further elevate their strategic cooperation to the capital level, potentially positively impacting the company’s valuation.

For CATL, aligning with upstream and downstream listed companies in the industry chain also aligns with its consistent investment strategy.

According to a January announcement by Fulin Precision (300432.SZ), CATL plans to invest approximately 3.175 billion yuan to participate in a targeted issuance of Fulin Precision, expected to become a strategic investor holding over 5% of its shares. In October last year, CATL invested 2.635 billion yuan to acquire 108 million shares of Tianhua New Energy (300390.SZ), becoming its second-largest shareholder.

It is worth noting that Yongtai High-tech still faces a high-value lawsuit issue. Previously, Yongtai Technology was involved in a dispute over trade secrets with Tinci Materials (002709.SZ), with the case amounting to 887 million yuan.

(Source: Times Finance)