Tramway News: On May 23, Kelu Electronics released a series of announcements stating that Midea Group will take over the control of Kelu Electronics from Shenzhen Capital Group through “fixed increase+entrusted voting rights”.
Specifically, Kelu Electronics plans to issue A-shares to Midea Group through non-public means. After the issuance, Midea Group will hold 29.96% of the shares and voting rights of Kelu Electronics and become the controlling shareholder of the listed company. In addition to this non-public offering, Shenzhen Capital Group, the current controlling shareholder of Kelu Electronics, plans to entrust its voting rights corresponding to 8.95% of the company’s shares to Midea Group.
This means that while gaining control, Midea Group will have more sufficient voice within Kelu Electronics. From the perspective of Kelu Electronics’ main business, Midea Group’s move is to further expand its layout in the new energy field.
Midea’s new energy landscape has emerged
Founded in 1968, Midea Group has now become a global technology group integrating five business segments: smart home, building technology, industrial technology, robotics and automation, and digital innovation. The newly established electromechanical business group has laid out new energy automobile parts products with motors, electric controls and compressors as the core, and the product lines involve motor drive systems, thermal management systems and auxiliary/auto drive system.
Since 2018, Midea has established Guangzhou Weiling Auto Parts Co., Ltd. and Anhui Weiling Auto Parts Co., Ltd.
Under Weiling Automobile, Midea has arranged automotive components such as drive motors, electronic water pumps, electronic oil pumps, electronic compressors, and ESP motors.
In 2021, Welling Auto Parts officially announced that three production lines (motor drive system, thermal management system and auxiliary/auto drive system) were officially put into production, and five categories of products including drive motor were released. The motor drive system, thermal management system and auxiliary/auto drive system products of the three major production lines have all been tested on the vehicle and become the parts supplier of many domestic automobile enterprises.
At the beginning of February this year, Midea invested 11 billion yuan to build a new strategic base for new energy vehicle components in Anqing. The base mainly produces power steering motors, new energy vehicle electric compressors, new energy vehicle drive motors, and other categories of products. It has established three major systems research and development centers for thermal management, main drive, and auxiliary/intelligent driving, as well as national laboratories. After the completion of the project, an annual production capacity of 60 million sets can be formed, achieving an annual output value of 40 billion yuan.
Chen Jintao, General Manager of Midea Welling Automotive Parts Company, a subsidiary of Midea Group, revealed that Midea’s new energy vehicle business has officially arrived at the turning point of takeoff. This year, Midea will enter the supply chain of half of the world’s mainstream new energy vehicle customers, and sales will usher in a significant explosion.
At the same time, Midea also announced that Midea’s industrial technology will form a strategic layout of six global research and development centers and two production bases in the field of new energy vehicle components. In the next decade, Midea Group will invest $1 billion in technology research to become a system level solution provider for new energy vehicles.
Enter the main Kelu to improve the new energy layout
If Midea’s establishment of Weiling Automobile is to enter the drive system field of new energy vehicles, then its entry into Kelu Electronics is to improve the layout related to energy storage and charging.
Kelu Electronics is an enterprise that provides core technology and system solutions in the fields of smart grid, energy storage, new energy vehicle charging and operation, and comprehensive energy services. Some of its businesses can just complement the previously acquired Hekang Xinneng by Midea. One focuses on energy storage and new energy vehicle energy services in the industrial field, and the other focuses on household energy management services.
The combination of Kelu Electronics, Hekang Xinneng, Weiling Automobile and Midea’s main business of household appliances can form a complete industry from power grid dispatching, energy storage, and electricity consumption (new energy vehicles, homes).
Regarding Midea’s becoming a controlling shareholder, Kelu Electronics stated that as a leading comprehensive service provider in the energy field in China, the company is also one of the earliest enterprises to enter the field of energy storage system integration in China, with a solid technical and market foundation and huge development potential. Midea Group’s desire to take control of the company is precisely motivated by its optimism about the new energy industry and the company’s development prospects.https://www.slw-ele.com/
Midea Group also said that energy management is the second engine for Midea to ignite, and it is also a key area for layout and breakthrough in B-end core business. The energy storage industry is in line with the strategic direction supported by the state and has a broad space. Kelu Electronics has a competitive advantage in the industry. It is one of the few energy storage integrators in China that are capable of participating in the entire industrial chain of energy storage projects, and has achieved independent research and development of relevant core components, such as battery management systems (BMS), energy management systems (EMS), and energy storage converters (PCS). Midea’s entry into Kelu can promote industrial synergy and achieve resource complementarity.
