news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

There is never a shortage of dark horses in the new energy circle, but the origins of the dark horses are different.

Founded less than two years ago, Goke Energy has already deployed a total lithium battery production capacity of 61GWh in three cities across the country, with a total investment of 20 billion yuan.

This new energy dark horse is very different from other dark horses such as Haichen Energy Storage and Singularity Energy. The biggest difference is that Guoke Energy currently has no VC or PE participation, but this has not prevented Guoke Energy from staking out a niche in the energy storage market.

The strength of Guoke Energy lies in the fact that its management team, technology sources, social resources, etc. are all closely related to Guoxuan High-tech. However, there is no public equity relationship between Guoke Energy and Guoxuan High-tech.

Guoxuan High-tech's 2023 annual report shows that energy storage batteries account for 22% of the company's revenue, making it the second largest business segment after power batteries. So how does it handle its relationship with Guoke Energy? As two seemingly independent companies, does Guoxuan High-tech have the right and plan to initiate a non-compete clause against former executives and core technical personnel, and to assert related rights such as technology patents?

01Within two years of establishment, two provinces and three cities have deployed 61GWh and invested more than 20 billion

Guoke Energy, the full name is Anhui Guoke Energy Technology Co., Ltd. Its official website introduction:

"Guoke Energy is located in the High-tech Zone of Hefei City, Anhui Province. It focuses on the research and development, production and sales of electrochemical energy storage batteries and systems, and is committed to providing first-class products and services for the world's third energy transformation. Its core technologies include the research and development and manufacturing capabilities of the entire industry chain, including materials, batteries and battery recycling in the field of power and energy storage batteries.

The company's core management and technical personnel have experience in key positions in the world's top ten power battery companies, with rich theoretical and practical experience. The company takes provincial and ministerial level innovative leading talents as the core, and brings together interdisciplinary comprehensive R&D teams such as electrochemistry, materials, machinery, power electronics, and simulation to create safer, more reliable, and higher performance battery products. "

Tianyancha shows that the company was established on August 18, 2022, with a registered capital of 100 million yuan and paid-in capital of 55 million yuan. It is well deserved to call Guoke Energy a dark horse in the new energy industry, because the speed at which this company is expanding its territory is really too fast!

(1) According to the official microblog of Guoke Energy: On July 18 this year, the signing ceremony of the cooperation framework agreement between Guoke Energy and Nanjing Jiangbei New District was held. According to the agreement, Guoke Energy willInvestment of nearly 10 billion yuan, and will gradually build a 30GWh annual energy storage battery production base in the intelligent manufacturing industrial park, move in the company headquarters and set up a research and development base.

This is just one of the projects of Guoke Energy. Previously, it has already laid out a project in Chuzhou and Anqing, Anhui.

Guoke Energy Chuzhou Base

(2) According to the official website of Guoke Energy, “The Chuzhou base is located at the intersection of Renhe Road and Quanwushan Avenue in the Economic Development Zone of Dingcheng Town, Dingyuan County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province. It is planned to be a 21GWh power/energy storage battery production base.Total investment: RMB 9.7 billionThe first and second phases of the base cover an area of ​​352 mu, with a planned total construction area of ​​155,000 square meters. It currently has an annual production capacity of 7GWh.

Guoke Energy Anqing Base

(3) According to the official website of Guoke Energy, “The Anqing base is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Wanjiang Avenue and Changfeng Road in Yingjiang District, Anqing City, Anhui Province. It is planned to be a 10GWh energy storage battery intelligent manufacturing base.Total investment: RMB 5.5 billionThe base was officially signed on November 26, 2023. It is expected to be officially put into production at the end of 2024 and reach full production capacity, with an annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan. "

In summary, Guoke Energy has planned a total production capacity of 61GWh in its three bases in Nanjing, Chuzhou and Anqing, with an estimated total investment of approximately RMB 25 billion.

Compiled based on public information from Guoke Energy

Although Guoke Energy claims that the project at its Chuzhou base includes power batteries, the planned capacity of 61GW is more focused on energy storage, and its power battery business is not currently underway. Therefore, we define Guoke Energy as an energy storage company.

So, what is the scale of Guoke Energy’s energy storage capacity in the market?

Let’s make a judgement through comparison.

(1) SNE Research, an international battery market research organization, released global battery shipment data for 2023. Among them, Guoxuan High-tech's energy storage battery shipments in 2023 were 6GWh, ranking 9th.

(2) Both newcomers and veterans in the lithium battery industry are frantically expanding their investment in energy storage. Guoxuan High-tech, a long-established lithium battery company, is also making efforts in this regard.

Guoxuan High-tech mentioned in its 2023 annual report: It has formed a global production capacity of 150GWh, and the company plans to achieve a production capacity of 300GWh by 2025. In 2023, power batteries accounted for nearly 73% of the revenue, and energy storage batteries accounted for less than 22%. In terms of the total scale of lithium battery production capacity, Guoneng Technology cannot be compared with Guoxuan High-tech.

However, as energy storage is an emerging business, Guoxuan High-tech and Guoneng Technology will race on the same track in the future.

From Guoxuan High-tech's 2023 annual report; unit: RMB

02Former Guoxuan executives, each one has a wonderful story

Guoke Energy made such a huge investment at once. So, what is its origin?

What is certain is that these natural person shareholders are neither entrepreneurial tycoons who have completed primitive accumulation nor capital tycoons.

As mentioned earlier, Goke Energy introduced to the outside world that: "The company's core management and technical personnel all have experience working in key positions in the top ten power battery companies in the world."

From Tianyancha; Guoke Energy’s equity structure

The people in the table above are all important, so let’s sort them out one by one. Gantanhao Energy Storage found that these natural person (indirect) shareholders are all related to Guoxuan High-tech.

(1) Hu Xiaoming, the current legal representative and largest shareholder of Guoke Energy, was formerly the president of Guoxuan Holding Group Co., Ltd. and was also an important shareholder of Guoxuan High-tech before its backdoor listing.

From the "Report on Issuing Shares to Purchase Assets and Raising Supporting Funds and Related Transactions (Draft)" in September 2024

Public information shows that on May 28, 2022, the commissioning ceremony of Jiangsu Province's major project, Guoxuan New Energy Intelligent Manufacturing Project, was attended by Li Zhen, Chairman of Guoxuan High-tech, and Hu Xiaoming, Senior Advisor of Guoxuan Holding Group.

That is to say, less than three months after this public event, Hu Xiaoming established Guoke Energy.

It seems that Guoxuan Holdings Group did not impose a non-compete clause on Hu Xiaoming.

From Qichacha

(2) Fang Jianhua, the second largest (indirect) shareholder, whose resume has been publicly disclosed:

Fang Jianhua, born in January 1965, has served as a cadre of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, general manager of the Eastern European Trade Department of China New Era Company, and general manager of the Technology Import and Export Department of China Poly Group. He joined Guoxuan High-tech in 2010 and has served as a director of the company, director and general manager of Hefei Guoxuan High-tech Power Energy Co., Ltd., director of Fujian Nachuan Pipe Technology Co., Ltd., chairman of Qingdao Guoxuan Battery Co., Ltd., executive director and general manager of Hefei Zhongxuan Energy Investment Management Co., Ltd., etc.

It is reported that for a long time, Fang Jianhua has basically been the "second in command" of Guoxuan High-tech and the spokesperson for Guoxuan High-tech on many occasions.

(3) Wang Chenxu, are management and technical talents from Guoxuan High-tech.

In the "Guoxuan High-tech: List of Incentive Recipients for the First Time Granted under the 2022 Stock Option Incentive Plan (First Authorization Date)" announced on July 8, 2022, the incentivized target Wang Chenxu was defined as a "core business personnel."

The "Guoxuan High-tech: Announcement on the Estimated Guarantee Amount for 2023" published on April 28, 2023 shows that Wang Chenxu is the legal representative of the holding subsidiary Hefei Guoxuan Battery Co., Ltd. Based on this judgment, Wang Chenxu has been away from Guoxuan High-tech for no more than 1.5 years.

Anhui Science and Technology News reported on November 18, 2022: Wang Chenxu, senior engineer, chairman of Hefei Guoxuan Battery Co., Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hefei Guoxuan High-tech Power Energy Co., Ltd.). Since he started working, he has 30 personal authorized invention patents, 57 authorized utility model patents, 17 academic papers, and was selected as a leading talent in strategic emerging industries in Anhui Province in 2017.

(4) Yang Xulai, was a supervisor of the listed company Guoxuan High-tech, so Guoxuan also publicly disclosed his resume: Yang Xulai, born in November 1983, Chinese nationality, doctoral degree. He served as a supervisor of Hefei Guoxuan High-tech Power Energy Co., Ltd., the dean of the Materials Branch, the deputy dean of the Engineering Research Institute, the company supervisor, and later served as a director of the company, the executive vice president of Hefei Guoxuan Engineering Research Institute, and the chairman of Guoxuan Materials.

Since Yang Xulai resigned from the position of director of the 7th Board of Directors and member of the Strategic Committee in 2018, and announced at the time that he would continue to work in the company, it is impossible to accurately determine the exact time of his departure from Guoxuan High-tech. However, the shares locked by his outgoing executives were not unlocked until June 23, 2020.

Based on the above information, it can be seen that the shareholders of Guoke Energy have all held important positions in Guoxuan High-tech, but there was no public report when they left. Therefore, it is difficult to judge when they decided to do energy storage themselves and establish Guoke Energy, and it is also difficult to judge whether their entrepreneurial behavior triggered the non-compete clause.

03 Backed by the big tree of Guoxuan High-tech

When the senior executives and core technical personnel of Guoxuan High-tech gather together to work on lithium batteries and energy storage, they will naturally carry the aura and brand of "Guoxuan High-tech". At least, the upstream and downstream industries and partners will think that this is a group of professionals who understand lithium batteries starting a business.

In addition to the shareholders coming from Guoxuan High-tech, the business strategy of Guoke Energy is almost identical to that of Guoxuan High-tech. Just from the name, it even makes people feel that Guoke Energy and Guoxuan High-tech have some kind of connection.

(1) Guoke Energy is located close to Guoxuan High-tech.

As we all know, the growth of Guoxuan High-tech is due to the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui. Therefore, Anhui has always been an important city for Guoxuan High-tech. Guoke Energy is also registered in Hefei, Anhui.

The shareholders of Guoke Energy have always maintained close relations with Hefei. Among them, Wang Chenxu was once the chairman of Hefei Guoxuan Battery Co., Ltd.; Yang Xulai was once the chairman of Hefei Guoxuan Battery Materials Co., Ltd. Guoke Energy's project bases are located in Chuzhou and Anqing, and Guoxuan High-tech has production bases in both places.

In addition, Guoxuan High-tech has also set up shop in Nanjing, another base of Guoke Energy. Public information shows that Nanjing Guoxuan has built three factories in Liuhe, completed the layout of 28GWh of production capacity, and plans to have an annual output value of 15 billion yuan this year.

(2) Is the R&D capability related to Guoxuan High-tech?

At present, Guoke Energy has not publicized how strong the company's R&D capabilities are. However, the technology in the lithium battery industry is changing with each passing day, which requires continuous and large investments. If the scientific and technological R&D capabilities cannot keep up, the products will certainly not be competitive.

Tianyan shows that although Guoke Energy was established not long ago, its subsidiaries already have several patents. Yang Xulai and others are important R&D personnel of the company.

From Tianyancha; Intellectual Property Rights of the Holding Subsidiary Guoke Energy (Chuzhou) Co., Ltd.

Tianyancha shows that three of the projects belong to "transfer of patent application rights."

The transfer of patent application rights refers to the act of a patent applicant legally transferring a patent that has been received by the State Intellectual Property Office but not yet authorized to another person.

Among them, there is an invention patent called "A sandwich structure electrode", which was applied for in March 2020, and the inventor includes Yang Xulai.

It is unknown under what circumstances Yang Xulai conducted his research, where the funds for research and development came from, and why he decided to transfer the patent to Guoke Energy. What is certain is that under normal circumstances, it is impossible for an individual to have the conditions to develop lithium batteries.

Guoxuan High-tech has invested heavily in research and development, with its R&D expenses in the past three years being 644 million, 1.794 billion, and 2.061 billion yuan respectively.

Guoxuan High-tech Annual Report; from WIND

04State-owned assets help with the money, and Guoxuan’s partners act as matchmakers?

Guoke Energy’s registered capital is only 100 million yuan, and it has no support from venture capital or strategic investors. Where does the money come from when the company wants to manage a project worth 20 billion yuan?

According to the enthusiasm of local governments to attract investment in the new energy industry, local state-owned assets should play an important role. Gantanhao Energy Storage believes that local governments will invest in the three bases of Guoke Energy.

Public information shows that the holding subsidiary located in Chuzhou, Guoke Energy (Chuzhou) Co., Ltd., has introduced Dingyuan County Xingyuan Industrial Investment Development Partnership (Limited Partnership).

99% of the shares of this partnership are local state-owned assets - Dingyuan County State-owned Assets Operation Co., Ltd., and 1% are Hefei Eucalyptus Capital Management Co., Ltd. (executive partner).

From Tianyancha

Eucalyptus Capital is well-known in the capital market, especially in Anhui market, and has invested in many listed companies.

(1) Its legal representative, Gu Bin, was once the focus of regulatory authorities.

Administrative Penalty Decision No. 4 of the Hunan Regulatory Bureau of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (2020) shows that Gu Bin controlled the securities accounts of "Gu Bin" and "Zhao Mouqin" to trade "Haichen Pharmaceutical". In the end, Gu Bin's illegal insider trading income of 47,238 yuan was confiscated and a fine of 141,714 yuan was imposed.

At the same time, the penalty decision also shows that Gu Bin was born in December 1987. From this point of view, he is considered a young capital tycoon.

(2) Public data shows that in August 2023, Deli Auto completed a RMB 700 million Series B financing, with Eucalyptus Capital and Guoxuan High-tech jointly leading the investment. From this perspective, Gu Bin and Eucalyptus Capital, who participated in Guoke Energy, are also good partners with Guoxuan High-tech.

postscript

With so much information coming through, what do you think is the relationship between Goke Energy and Guoxuan High-tech?

At the end of this article, a table of information about the resigned executives of Guoxuan High-tech is attached. The executives of Guoxuan High-tech seem to be much more active in terms of stability than those of leading companies such as BYD and CATL.

From WIND; Guoxuan High-tech's board of directors and senior executives' departure