China’s largest auto parts maker Wanxiang Group acquired most of the assets of A123 Systems, the world’s leading lithium-ion battery company, for US$256.6 million (approximately RMB1.604 billion). Subsequently, the Delaware District Bankruptcy Court officially approved this. A transaction. Printed Fabric,Patterns Fabric,Breathable Geometric Print,Woven Geometric Print Fabric SHAOXING HONEST IMP&EXP.CO.,LTD , https://www.transfer-printed.com
After two rounds, the final approval of the M&A case was once again placed before the U.S. Overseas Investment Committee and the U.S. government. Just one step away from the successful acquisition of Wanxiang, the voice from foreign media has far surpassed the domestic voice, and it is full of the hands of the companies that have fallen into the Chinese background of A123’s core technology and will give the domestic industry a belt. Worry about the shock.
Wan Xiang’s once-normal business merger has been deterred by foreign media as a “hat†that jeopardizes US security and will impact the US industry. In this environment of public opinion, Ni Feng, president of Wanxiang Group's American company, emphasized in the announcement that Wanxiang plans to develop A123's engineering and manufacturing operations in the United States. The company will commit to long-term investment in A123. Wanxiang Group's performance in the domestic market is even more low-key. Wanxiang insiders said that before the merger and acquisition has yet been finalized, the Group has no further information to disclose.
In fact, this is the second time Wanxiang has initiated the acquisition of A123. At the beginning of this year, A123’s performance has shown signs of fatigue, and at the same time, it has to face two liability expenses for the electric vehicle’s fire incident, which ultimately caused A123 to apply for bankruptcy protection and to sell it. As a result, Wanxiang Group U.S. and A123 Company signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding in August this year, and Wanxiang will acquire 80% of the shares of A123 Systems for US$465 million. However, due to the strong opposition that endangered US national security and technology loss, Wanxiang had no choice but to suspend the acquisition.
In order to dispel concerns of sensitive domestic technology inflows into Chinese companies in the United States, this second-order merger has eliminated the contract between the U.S. government and the U.S. military held by A123. It is understood that A123’s assets involving US government and military contracts will be sold to another US small-scale energy company for US$2.25 million.
Priority loans were repaid and mergers and acquisitions were initiated twice. Wanxiang had a “mindedness†mentality for this project from the very beginning. From a business point of view, obtaining core technologies in batteries is of crucial importance for the future development of Wanxiang. When talking about the direction of development, Wanxiang Group executives once stated that “China's manufacturing needs to transform from being a front-end, low-level production company to a capital-intensive and technology-intensive company. The development of new energy vehicles will be the main strategy for Wanxiang. Universal also needs to integrate and upgrade battery technology."
If it truly completes the acquisition of A123, Wanxiang will not only acquire the leading lithium battery core technology, but also be able to occupy a dominant position in the new energy core component market through cooperation with well-known companies. It is understood that as a high-tech company that mainly researches, produces and sells new-generation lithium-ion batteries, A123 has procurement agreements with multinationals such as GM and BMW.