From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 134: The 10 Billion Yuan Valuation of Weineng Battery (Details of Financing and Employee Stock Ownership, can be skipped, to be covered in the next chapter).

The next day.

Leaving aside the offline buzz and online discussion surrounding Xingchen Motors, let's set aside the fact that...

The investment community and the A-share market have also experienced a major upheaval.

First, various short essays from the investment community suddenly appeared overnight.

before.

The prevailing opinion in the tech world is that ternary lithium batteries will have a much greater future development potential than lithium iron phosphate batteries, and this is not without basis.

For the time being.

The leading domestic ternary lithium battery cell manufacturers, such as CATL, have achieved a maximum energy density of 250Wh/kg for their ternary lithium battery cells, while the energy density of lithium iron phosphate cells is still between 110Wh/kg and 120Wh/kg.

The energy density is less than half, and the consistency and low-temperature performance are also poor.

In terms of safety, lithium iron phosphate batteries cannot guarantee that they will not spontaneously combust after being damaged by an impact.

And now.

What they saw.

A 160Wh/kg lithium iron phosphate battery cell has emerged, featuring brand-new large-cell technology and an integrated CTP (Continuous Circuit Processing) vehicle installation approach!
A multi-point needle penetration experiment that shocked the new energy industry.

although.

In terms of energy density, consistency, and discharge performance, it still cannot match ternary lithium battery cells.

However, the cost of lithium iron phosphate cells is much lower than that of ternary lithium batteries!

If they can reach this level, dominating the future low-to-mid-range vehicle assembly market will be no problem at all.

That's insane!!
On the day.

The upstream and downstream sectors of lithium iron phosphate have experienced a surge in prices, with various institutional investors pouring in capital.

……

The senior management meeting room of Vaillant Battery.

When Xu Yi arrived at the conference hall, representatives from multiple investment firms, senior executives from Xingchen Technology, board members of Weineng, and legal teams from both sides were already present.

The atmosphere during this round of financing negotiations was noticeably different. Many investors were quite enthusiastic and flushed as soon as they arrived.

Meanwhile, new candidates have joined this round of financing after screening.

"Mr. Xu, I am Cheng Tian from Shunwei Capital. It's a pleasure to meet you..." A man in a suit wearing half-rimmed glasses smiled and took the initiative to walk over.

Many ordinary people may not have heard of Shunwei Capital, but they are familiar with its founder.

That's right, it's Lei Jun, who holds 51% of Shunwei Capital and is the actual controller behind it.

The well-known Xiaomi Strategic Investment Department is actually mainly responsible for the layout and investment of Xiaomi Group's related industrial chains.

Shunwei Capital, an investment firm that specializes in investing in China's internet and emerging technology industries, represents the investment intentions of Mr. Yu Lei and the partners of Shunwei Capital.

"I watched your press conference. Polestar Battery's leading position in lithium iron phosphate technology is astonishing. After watching the press conference, Mr. Lei immediately sent me over..."

Cheng Tian said with a smile.

This time, Shunwei Capital's CEO Xu Dalai did not attend in person. Instead, Cheng Tian, ​​an investment partner, represented Shunwei Capital in the negotiations.

of course.

This does not mean that the other party does not value it.

Each profession has its own expertise. Cheng Tian, ​​as a partner, and his management team mainly focus on hard technology investments, especially in the field of new energy. In just the past few years, they have led investments in companies such as CATL, EVE Energy, and Hesai Technology.

In the field of battery energy, he not only has a keen eye, but also extensive connections.

"What? Mr. Lei has already watched the press conference? This is truly an honor for our startup car company."

Upon learning that he had caught the attention of a big shot, Xu Yi expressed just the right amount of surprise.

"Yes, Mr. Lei said his schedule has been too full lately, otherwise he would definitely have come to communicate in person."

Cheng Tian was both amused and exasperated, his expression slightly strange.

He can't forget the look on Lei Jun's face when he video-called him after watching the press conference.

There's a feeling I can't quite put my finger on.

At first, he was a little puzzled.

After hanging up the phone, he opened the recording of the Star Auto launch event, and his expression immediately became blank.

This style—it's so incredibly similar!

That's right.

He used the word "spirit resemblance" rather than "similarity".

Because the whole press conference felt like a complete copy or imitation, which would actually be a step down.

Instead, they have their own unique approach, and their use of certain rhetoric seems even more sophisticated and mature than Xiaomi's product launch events.

That's really weird!
He had looked up information about the founder of Star Auto.

Is it possible for someone to be self-taught to reach this level?!

...

The two sides had a conversation.

They quickly took their seats; there were simply too many investors who wanted to talk to Xu Yi today.

As a spun-off battery subsidiary, Vaillant Battery's valuation is now significantly higher than before. This is a point that must be made clear.

Currently, Vaillant Battery and Xingchen Motors have a "technology-bound relationship".

However, both its business capabilities and profitability meet the standards for financing and listing.

While Vaillant Battery has reduced its orders for passenger vehicles, it hasn't completely given up on them.

Once this round of financing is completed, Vaillant Battery will officially expand its production capacity on a large scale and supply its battery system to external customers.

They embarked on a dual path of OEM manufacturing for Xingchen Motors and external profit generation.

The entire financing meeting lasted for several hours, and the valuation of Vaillant Battery in this round soared from the initial three or four billion to over eight billion, or even ten billion!

Xu Yi's "reasonable argument" certainly played a part in this.

In terms of equity distribution, the AB equity structure remains unchanged. Investors receive Class A shares, which are mainly for economic benefits, with 1 share equaling 1 vote; while Xu Yi holds Class B shares, with 1 share equaling 20 votes.

90%的上市公司，常见倍数都是5-10票，1股达到20票的案例相当罕见。

Xu Yi's reasoning was simple: Weineng Battery was still in a period of rapid growth, and both its technological roadmap and external development required absolutely centralized decision-making.

If this condition is not met, then further financing is out of the question.

The investor representatives from each company were also highly astute, having conducted thorough and professional calculations on Polestar's large single-cell battery technology before their arrival.

Some investors, like Cheng Tian, ​​are experts in the battery industry and naturally see the future value of Weineng Battery. Xingchen Technology has already signed a long-term patent licensing agreement with it, which provides a guarantee for its technological path.

It can be said that it will maintain a leading position in the lithium iron phosphate market for the next five years.

Ultimately, after several rounds of lengthy negotiations, Weineng Battery was valued at 15 billion RMB, with a 15% share dilution, raising 2.2 billion RMB.

With the collaboration of the legal team and multiple parties, several rigorous and detailed business agreements were finally signed, bringing this grand financing meeting to a successful conclusion.

……

After handling the financing matters for these Vaillant batteries.

Back at the company, I received a message from the finance department reporting on the progress of the employee stock ownership plan.

"President Xu, the company's virtual stock pool has been established, the members of the virtual stock management committee have been selected, and all the relevant articles of association have been completed."

All executives' stock options were converted into virtual shares in proportion to their performance.

The current stock pool size is 1 million shares.

The allocation rule is that 10% of the shares, or 1000 million shares, will be granted to new employees each year, and the remaining 90% will be used for performance-based bonuses for existing employees.

If senior executives fail to meet performance targets for two consecutive years, the company may repurchase 50% of their virtual shares at 80% of the current valuation.

The same applies to ordinary employees who fail to meet their performance targets for two consecutive years.

Virtual shares are allocated at different employee levels with an annual limit. Currently, ordinary employees can be allocated a maximum of 10,000 bonus shares per year, while key employees can be allocated 20,000 bonus shares per year.

Core R&D members and senior strategic development executives are entitled to a maximum of 50 dividend shares per year.

Every December, each department submits a "list of virtual share applicants," which is then reviewed by the management committee before final approval by you.

Apart from the capital gains, virtual shares are only redeemed upon employee retirement and normal resignation; employees who resign due to disciplinary reasons will not enjoy capital gains.

......"

A series of detailed rules and regulations governing employee stock ownership.

First, there's the source of the virtual stock pool.

The founder, Xu Yi, transferred 20% of the actual shares to create a virtual share pool.

Yes, it's 20%.

It's not that all the shares are being transferred out.

Furthermore, the "legal ownership" of the virtual stock pool still belongs to Xu Yi, and all employees only enjoy the right to dividends and the right to appreciation.

Besides.

That is the upper limit of the dividend shares allocated each year.

There are two conditions for the issuance of dividend shares: first, performance and seniority requirements must be met; second, the shares must be purchased with salary.

It doesn't mean my hair has turned white.

Furthermore, there are still strict limits on the number of dividend shares that ordinary employees and core members can hold.

It's not that an ordinary employee can simply sit back and relax by buying a large number of virtual dividend shares.

Finally, there are the review and exit mechanisms.

For members who lie down or slack off and fail to meet performance targets, whether they are executives or employees, the company has the right to repurchase their virtual shares in accordance with the stock pool rules.

In general.

It precisely binds "value contributors"!
The more valuable you are to the company, the more incentives you will receive.

Furthermore, virtual stock dividends are based on the company's net profit for the year, not its market capitalization; these two are fundamentally different.

The phenomenon of a company's market value increasing a hundredfold while virtual stock dividends increase several hundredfold in a short period of time will not occur, because with the investment in research and development and various expenses, the company's net profit will not be so exaggerated.

But without a doubt, the more dividend-paying shares you hold, the more returns you will enjoy each year.

Predictably so.

With the increase in net profit, it's not a problem for the virtual stock price to multiply several times or even dozens of times.

After reading it, Xu Yi nodded slightly and signed his agreement.

(End of this chapter)