The cross - border expansion worth 2 billion yuan may run aground, and the control rights of 002348 are likely to change again.

After three years of taking control, the "Huatong Group" is about to withdraw from Gaole Co., Ltd. (002348.SZ), and its ambition to diversify into the new energy sector may be stranded.

On the evening of November 24th, Gaole Co., Ltd. disclosed an announcement stating that recently it received a notice from its largest shareholder, Huatong Group Co., Ltd., and learned that Huatong Group is planning to transfer its shares in the company or (and) entrust the voting rights. This planned matter may lead to a change in the company's control rights.

The announcement shows that the company's stock will be suspended from trading starting from the opening on November 25th, and the suspension period is expected to be no more than 2 trading days. Before Gaole Co., Ltd. disclosed the announcement, its stock price had already reached the daily limit on the same day.

The "Huatong Group" was founded by brothers Zhu Jianyong and Zhu Jianjun. The Zhu brothers are the actual controllers of the well - known Zhejiang enterprise, Huatong Group, and they also have another listed company under their control, Huatong Co., Ltd. (002840.SZ).

Regarding the issue of equity transfer, on November 25th, Times Finance called the secretary's office of Gaole Co., Ltd. The relevant staff was unaware of the reason for the sudden equity transfer and said, "The group (referring to Huatong Group) may have its own considerations. We just received a notice from the largest shareholder yesterday. Now we are still in discussions and have issued an announcement in a timely manner."

According to Times Finance, after the "Huatong Group" announced the acquisition of Gaole Co., Ltd. in November 2022, the change of the controlling shareholder was completed in March 2023. However, after the Zhu brothers took control of Gaole Co., Ltd. for about three years, they suddenly announced the equity transfer. This indicates to the outside world that the "Huatong Group"'s plan to build a new energy business listed company with Gaole Co., Ltd. as the core may fail.

Is the 2 - billion - yuan plan to diversify into solid - state batteries stranded?

Betting on the new energy trend does not guarantee 100% success. However, taking control of Gaole Co., Ltd. was a crucial step for the "Huatong Group" to diversify into the new energy sector.

In November 2022, Gaole Co., Ltd., which mainly engages in the toy business, issued multiple announcements. The original actual controller, the Yang family, planned to transfer 14% of the equity to Huatong Group at a transfer price of 2.187 yuan per share, with a total price of 290 million yuan. At the same time, the Yang family fully entrusted the voting rights of the remaining 7.74% of the shares to Huatong Group. Thus, the Zhu brothers of the "Huatong Group" took control of Gaole Co., Ltd.

Shortly after the "Huatong Group" took control, Gaole Co., Ltd. began to enter the new energy field.

Times Finance noticed that in December 2022, Gaole Co., Ltd. established Gaole New Energy Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gaole New Energy") in Yiwu. Its business scope includes battery manufacturing, battery sales, etc. In the same month, Gaole Co., Ltd. signed a "Strategic Cooperation Agreement" with the Yiwu Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, planning to invest about 2 billion yuan in the Yiwu Economic and Technological Development Zone to build a 2GWh nano - solid - state battery project.

At that time, the market once questioned Gaole Co., Ltd.'s financial strength. Where did it get the confidence to diversify into solid - state batteries?

In fact, the "Huatong Group" behind Gaole Co., Ltd. contributed a lot.

According to Times Finance, in addition to the 20 million yuan of self - raised funds from Gaole Co., Ltd., the "Huatong Group" provided about 601 million yuan of financial support through bond financing for the 2 - billion - yuan solid - state battery project investment. The funds came from its own capital accumulation and project payments. This investment also planned to introduce financing from financial institutions.

It is worth mentioning that in June 2024, Gaole Co., Ltd. adjusted the "2GWh nano - solid - state battery project" to the "1.2GWh solid - state sodium - ion battery project", and the estimated total investment of the project was adjusted from 2 billion yuan to 1.05 billion yuan.

However, as a result, this project is still just a "castle in the air". "We signed an agreement with Yiwu and also signed a factory lease agreement, but the market has changed greatly," the relevant person from the secretary's office of Gaole Co., Ltd. told Times Finance.

According to the financial report, on September 2nd, 2024, Gaole New Energy signed a factory lease contract with Huatong Co., Ltd. with a transaction price of 70.2932 million yuan, but as of mid - 2025, it had not been delivered. At the same time, Gaole New Energy signed a contract for the technical R & D cooperation of the nano - solid - state sodium - ion battery complete technology development and research project with Chongqing Nikola Technology Industry Research Institute Co., Ltd. with a transaction amount of 30 million yuan. However, as of mid - 2025, the payment had not been made.

In other words, Gaole Co., Ltd.'s project to diversify into solid - state batteries is still in a relatively early stage. The company has also publicly stated that currently, the battery project company has not started production and construction, and the company has no business income from batteries yet.

The "Huatong Group" chasing the trend

The "Huatong Group" controlled by the Zhu brothers has the gene of chasing trends from the very beginning.

In 1986, the Zhu brothers opened a winery and embarked on the path of entrepreneurship. At that time, the local aquaculture industry was booming while the feed industry was underdeveloped. After the Zhu brothers noticed the trend, they quickly sold the winery and opened a feed processing factory instead. Subsequently, with the feed industry as the foundation, the Zhu brothers extended along the industrial chain to the aquaculture, slaughtering, and meat product processing businesses. In 2017, the Zhu brothers led Huatong Co., Ltd. to go public.

The "Huatong Group"'s move into the new energy sector was not a whim.

In fact, the "Huatong Group" began to enter the new energy field in 2012. Tianyancha shows that in 2012, the Zhu brothers renamed "Zhejiang Yiwu Huatong Feed Co., Ltd." to "Zhejiang Yiwu Huatong New Energy Development Co., Ltd." In 2021, the "Huatong Group" jointly established "Diantou Guohua (Yiwu) New Energy Co., Ltd." with State Power Investment Corporation Zhejiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. through the listed company Huatong Co., Ltd., and the "Huatong Group" holds 49% of the shares.

In April 2022, the "Huatong Group" established "Zhejiang Huatong Environmental Technology Co., Ltd." with a business scope including solar power generation technology services, sales of photovoltaic equipment and components, wind power generation technology services, etc. In November 2022, the "Huatong Group" acquired Gaole Co., Ltd. to diversify into solid - state batteries.

However, the "Huatong Group" failed to achieve the goal of creating a new profit - growth point for Gaole Co., Ltd. Since the "Huatong Group" took control of Gaole Co., Ltd., the company's net profit attributable to the parent company has not turned from loss to profit.

The third - quarter report shows that in the first three quarters of 2025, Gaole Co., Ltd. achieved an operating income of 226 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 10.06%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of 12 million yuan, and the non - recurring profit and loss net profit attributable to the parent company was a loss of 32 million yuan. The company also had a loss in the net profit attributable to the parent company in 2023 and 2024.

With the "Huatong Group"'s plan to transfer the control rights, the future of Gaole Co., Ltd.'s plan to diversify into solid - state batteries remains to be seen, and it is still worthy of attention how the new acquirer will reverse the company's loss situation.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Times Finance APP" (ID: tf - app). Author: He Mingjun, Editor: Gao Qiurong. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.