Zeng Yuqun has invested in the former richest person in Mianyang.

Ningwang (CATL) has made another move.

The investment community has learned that recently, Fuling Precision Industry released an announcement stating that it plans to jointly conduct a capital increase and share expansion of its subsidiary, Jiangxi Shenghua New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiangxi Shenghua") with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL). Among them, Fuling Precision Industry plans to increase its capital by RMB 1 billion, and CATL plans to increase its capital by RMB 2.563 billion. Thus, Jiangxi Shenghua has become a holding subsidiary of CATL.

What's the background of the little - known Jiangxi Shenghua? It's inseparable from An Zhifu, the helmsman of Fuling Precision Industry. He founded Fuling Precision Industry in 1997 and acquired Shenghua Technology, the predecessor of Jiangxi Shenghua, for RMB 2.1 billion in 2016, creating a leader in the field of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials in the future.

Looking at this, Yichun, the location of Jiangxi Shenghua's headquarters, a once obscure city in western Jiangxi, is rising to become the "Lithium Capital of Asia".

CATL makes two moves, investing 3 billion in a supplier

Within just half a year, CATL has invested in Jiangxi Shenghua twice.

In March this year, Fuling Precision Industry released an announcement stating that Jiangxi Shenghua planned to introduce strategic investor CATL through capital increase and share expansion. The latter planned to subscribe for RMB 339 million of Jiangxi Shenghua's newly - increased registered capital with RMB 400 million and obtain 18.7387% of the equity on a fully - diluted basis after the completion of this transaction.

Rarely, CATL also actively locked in Jiangxi Shenghua's lithium iron phosphate production capacity by paying an advance payment. Three months later, the two companies signed a "Supplementary Agreement" again. CATL agreed to pay a one - time advance payment of RMB 500 million to Jiangxi Shenghua before May 31, 2025, to support the construction of Jiangxi Shenghua's Jiangxi base (with an annual production capacity of 160,000 tons) and the third - phase project in Sichuan (with an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons).

Subsequently, in September this year, the latest agreement specified that CATL would pay an advance payment of RMB 500 million to Jiangxi Shenghua in September 2025 and RMB 1 billion in November 2025 to lock in the supply of lithium iron phosphate and support Jiangxi Shenghua in the layout of more competitive raw material construction.

Coupled with this capital increase, CATL has taken Jiangxi Shenghua under its wing. Before the implementation of the capital increase and share expansion, Fuling Precision Industry and CATL held 79.5719% and 18.7387% of the shares respectively. After the implementation of the capital increase and share expansion, CATL became the controlling shareholder of Jiangxi Shenghua, holding 51.00% of the shares, while Fuling Precision Industry's shareholding ratio was 47.4096%. This also means that after the completion of this transaction, Jiangxi Shenghua will become a holding subsidiary of CATL.

According to the agreement, the board of directors of Jiangxi Shenghua consists of 7 directors, of which 4 are appointed by CATL and 3 are appointed by Fuling Precision Industry. The chairman of Jiangxi Shenghua, as the legal representative, is a director appointed by CATL.

Jiangxi Shenghua, favored by CATL, is located in Yichun City, Jiangxi Province. Its entrepreneurial origin can be traced back more than a decade ago. Peng Peng, who graduated from Central South University in the early years, returned to China to start a business after obtaining a master's degree from the University of Nottingham in the UK in 2005. He organized five doctoral students and several postgraduate students to jointly research lithium - ion cathode materials with Central South University. Then, in 2008, he founded Hunan Shenghua Technology Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Jiangxi Shenghua.

In 2016, Fuling Precision Industry made a move to acquire 100% of the shares of Hunan Shenghua Technology Co., Ltd. for a total price of RMB 2.1 billion, officially announcing its entry into the new - energy vehicle field. Jiangxi Shenghua focuses on the R & D and production of lithium - battery cathode materials. Its core product is lithium iron phosphate cathode materials. Currently, the company has passed the certification of customers in the battery industry such as CATL, BYD, Honeycomb Energy, and Phylion, and has achieved mass supply.

The financial reports disclose that Jiangxi Shenghua's revenues in 2022, 2023, and 2024 were RMB 4.879 billion, RMB 2.808 billion, and RMB 4.829 billion respectively, and the net profits were RMB 288 million, - RMB 1.053 billion, and - RMB 28.3612 million respectively. In the first half of 2025, Jiangxi Shenghua's revenue was RMB 3.958 billion, and the net profit was RMB 63.7814 million.

In CATL's investment map, another unicorn is about to emerge.

The former richest man in Mianyang, with a market value of 30 billion

As the other protagonist of the transaction, the story of Fuling Precision Industry dates back to the 1990s.

An Zhifu, born in Sichuan in 1946, resigned from his job to do business in the early years. He started his business by founding a down factory with 2,000 yuan and accumulated his first pot of gold. Subsequently, An Zhifu came to Mianyang City with his savings and entered the real - estate industry. In 1995, he officially established Fuling Industrial Group.

Two years later, An Zhifu founded Fuling Precision Industry, and its business scope expanded to the field of automobile parts manufacturing. After that, through various means such as holding, mergers, and asset restructuring, he successively took over Mianyang Second Transport Company, Jieda Company, Fuhua Company, etc. Among them, the most significant deal was that An Zhifu acquired Sichuan Automobile Industry Group in 2002. The latter was one of the few automobile - manufacturing enterprises in Sichuan Province at that time, which was the predecessor of Mustang Automobile.

In 2010, Fuling Transportation Industry was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first listed company under An Zhifu. Five years later, An Zhifu welcomed his second IPO - Fuling Precision Industry was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in March 2015.

To date, Fuling Precision Industry has risen to become a leading enterprise in the field of automobile engine parts. It has a national - level enterprise technology center and a Sichuan Provincial New - Energy Vehicle Drive System Engineering Technology Research Center. Its main products, precision hydraulic parts and electromagnetic drive parts, have achieved domestic substitution first.

Meanwhile, Fuling Precision Industry is also accelerating its layout in the field of embodied intelligence. In February this year, Fuling Precision Industry signed an "Investment and Cooperation Agreement for Humanoid Robot Application Projects" with Zhiyuan Robotics, Juxing New Materials, Wen Hongjie, and Annu Chuangxiang. All parties jointly invested in the establishment of a joint - venture company to implement the humanoid robot project.

Specifically, Zhiyuan Robotics provides technical support for the humanoid robot platform, application development, and platform interfaces. As a supplier of key robot components, Fuling Precision Industry provides the R & D, production, and manufacturing of key robot hardware, precision reducers, and intelligent electric joints. In August, Zhiyuan Robotics reached a project cooperation worth tens of millions of yuan with Fuling Precision Industry. Nearly a hundred Expedition A2 - W robots will be deployed in Fuling Precision Industry's factory, becoming the first large - scale commercial order case of embodied robots in the domestic industrial field.

Thanks to this, Fuling Precision Industry's latest market value exceeds RMB 33 billion, and the An Zhifu family once ranked as the richest in Mianyang on the "Hurun Rich List 2022".

Why do they all take a fancy to Yichun?

The rise of Jiangxi Shenghua in Yichun is not an accidental event.

Located in the northwest of Jiangxi Province, Yichun City is adjacent to Nanchang in the east and Jiujiang in the north. It is located in the eastern section of the Jiangnan Orogenic Belt between the Yangtze Block and the Cathaysian Block. The magmatic activity is intense, and the geological conditions for the formation of rare metals such as lithium, tantalum, and niobium are favorable, with rich resources.

According to the data in the "Overall Plan for Mineral Resources in Yichun City (2021 - 2025)", as of the end of 2022, the lithium oxide resource of lithium - bearing ceramic clay (stone) ore in Yichun City was 5.7372 million tons. With the increase in exploration and development efforts, the long - term lithium oxide resource in the whole city exceeds 9 million tons.

As early as 2008, relying on its rich lepidolite resources, Yichun City was the first among prefecture - level cities in the country to put forward the idea of building a lithium - battery new - energy industry, aiming to become the "Lithium Capital of Asia". After more than a decade of recruitment and cultivation, a number of leading enterprises in the lithium - battery industry, such as CATL, Gotion High - Tech, Ganfeng Lithium, Corun, Sunwoda, and Tongrui New Energy, have successively come to Yichun.

Among them, in February 2021, Gotion High - Tech signed an agreement with Yichun to invest in building a lithium - battery new - energy industry project, becoming the first project worth tens of billions of yuan introduced by the municipal government of Yichun. It only took 40 days from the initial negotiation to the formal signing, and the project was launched in 4 months and put into production in 1 year.

As the primary industry in Yichun, the lithium - battery new - energy industry has formed a complete industrial chain covering the main links of lithium - resource mining, beneficiation, and smelting, key materials for lithium batteries, lithium - ion batteries, lithium - battery applications, and lithium - battery recycling. It has been selected as an advanced manufacturing cluster in Jiangxi Province and has entered the national - level cluster cultivation database.

As of now, there are 292 enterprises in the lithium - battery new - energy industry in Yichun that have been put into production. In the first half of this year, the revenue of the middle and downstream of the industrial chain accounted for 79.2%. The industrial revenue has maintained a scale of 100 billion for three consecutive years. In 2024 alone, the output value of Yichun CATL exceeded RMB 17 billion. The world's first mass - production line of semi - solid - state batteries of Qingtao Energy and the 10GWh project of Gotion High - Tech have been completed successively, and the lithium - battery production capacity in the whole city has exceeded 90GWh.

The industrial chain also shines brightly: Zichen Technology, the leading enterprise in anode materials, ranks among the top three in the country; Enjie Co., Ltd.'s wet - process separator has broken the monopoly of Japan and South Korea; Mingguan New Materials has achieved the import substitution of aluminum - plastic film; and three enterprises such as Ruida New Energy have been included in the "White List" for battery recycling by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In 2023, Yichun City issued the "Medium - and Long - Term Development Plan for the Lithium - Battery New - Energy Industry in Yichun City (2023 - 2030)", proposing the development orientation of "building an important national - level gathering area for the lithium - battery new - energy industry" and putting forward the overall development idea of "controlling the upstream, expanding the middle - stream, and competing in the downstream". In addition, Yichun also pays attention to promoting the differentiated development of different regions, clearly stating that Yichun Economic Development Zone focuses on the downstream of the industrial chain, concentrating on the development of lithium batteries and their applications, and other counties and cities develop supporting industries such as cathode and anode materials and separators according to the idea of "matching the chain and the cluster".

Meanwhile, Yichun is also accelerating the breakthrough of key lithium - extraction technologies. According to a report in "Jiangxi Daily", in the Keke New Energy Laboratory in Wanzai County, the fourth - generation "sulfate comprehensive method" for lithium extraction has compressed the cost of lithium extraction from low - grade lepidolite to less than RMB 60,000 per ton, which is comparable to the cost of imported spodumene. The all - wet lithium - extraction technology developed by the Yichun Jiangxi University of Science and Technology Lithium - Battery Industry Research Institute has reduced energy consumption by 50% and lithium - smelting residues by 50%, and is about to enter the 100 - kilogram - scale pilot - test stage.

To support the development of the lithium - battery industry, Yichun has also successively issued a series of policy measures such as the "Preferential Policies for the Development of the Lithium - Battery New - Energy Industry in Yichun City", the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Lithium - Battery New - Energy Industry in Yichun City", and the "Several Policies on Further Accelerating the Development of the Lithium - Battery Industry in Yichun"; and established a lithium - battery industry development guidance fund with a total scale of RMB 5 billion to boost the development and growth of the lithium - battery industry.

As Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of CATL, said in an interview with "Yichun Daily" before, CATL set its sights on Jiangxi, chose Jiangxi, and chose Yichun because it values the local government's style and responsibility of "seize every minute and second". That's why it is willing to place its most advanced production line in Yichun, layout the whole lithium - battery industrial chain, build an "ecosystem of new energy", and jointly seize the huge industrial opportunities brought by carbon peaking and carbon neutrality with Yichun.

"Don't think Yichun is far away; its landscapes offer many wonderful tours." Looking back at history, Yichun is a city with a profound gene of struggle, and it has written a history of struggle in the past few decades. Now, standing at the turning point of industrial change, this pearl hidden in western Jiangxi is opening a new chapter.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Investment Community", author: Liu Bo, published by 36Kr with authorization.