On the evening of January 9, Yongtai Technology (002326SZ) disclosed that the company has signed a "Material Procurement Supplemental Agreement" with CATL, and CATL intends to purchase no less than 100,000 tons of various types of electrolytes from the company every year in 2024 and 2025. Under the influence of the positive, Yongtai Technology ended the continuous decline, opened high in the morning of January 10, and touched the daily limit at 11$5.
It is worth noting that in intraday trading the day before (January 9), Yongtai Technology's share price hit a new low since 2022. The share price was frustrated or due to the negative news on the evening of January 8, due to a procurement contract dispute, Yongtai Technology received Guoxuan Hi-Tech (002074SZ) subsidiary Feidong Guoxuan New Materials *** hereinafter referred to as "Guoxuan New Materials"), demanding that Yongtai Technology return the deposit and the loss of occupied funds totaling 20.3 billion yuan, the case quickly attracted market attention.
As early as December 18, 2023, Yongtai Technology announced that it would sue Guoxuan New Materials and its affiliates for breach of contract and demand compensation of 31.1 billion yuan. At present, both sides have their own opinions on whether to settle the payment. It is worth noting that in the process of performing the agreement, Guoxuan New Materials entrusted the related party Hefei Qianrui Technology *** hereinafter referred to as "Qianrui Technology") to purchase on behalf of the company, and the shareholder behind the company is also the second largest shareholder of Guoxuan Hi-Tech, which is controlled by Li Jin, the actual controller of Gotion Hi-Tech.
On the evening of January 8, 2024, Yongtai Technology disclosed that it had recently received litigation materials from the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei City, Anhui Province (hereinafter referred to as the "Hefei Intermediate Court"), which was a dispute over a sales contract between Guoxuan New Materials and the company. According to the litigation request, Guoxuan New Materials requested the court to order Yongtai Technology to return the performance bond of 200 million yuan and the loss of occupied funds of 253920,000 yuan, a total of 20.3 billion yuan.
Prior to this, Guoxuan New Materials first submitted an application for property preservation to the Hefei Intermediate People's Court. On December 18, 2023, Yongtai Technology announced that some bank account funds were frozen, with a total amount of about 20.3 billion yuan. The amount involved in this lawsuit is basically the same as that of Gotion New Materials.
The contract dispute stemmed from a purchase agreement signed in 2022. At that time, the lithium salt lithium hexafluorophosphate market was hot, and the product was in short supply, Guoxuan New Materials and Yongtai Technology signed the "Material Purchase Agreement", which agreed to purchase lithium hexafluorophosphate and vinylene carbonate from Yongtai Technology with the minimum monthly purchase amount, and at the same time agreed on the purchase **, the deduction of the prepaid deposit, the contract period, etc. After the contract was signed, Guoxuan New Materials paid a deposit of 200 million yuan to Yongtai Technology.
At the same time, the two parties agreed on the liability for breach of contract: 1. Gotion New Materials shall complete the minimum purchase quantity according to the agreement, and if the minimum purchase quantity is not completed and Yongtai Technology suffers losses, Yongtai Technology has the right to initiate a claim against Gotion New Materials, and the specific claim amount shall be negotiated by both parties. 2. Gotion New Materials shall pay the payment in a timely manner according to the agreement and the purchase and sale order contract determined in writing by both parties, and if the payment is overdue, Yongtai Technology has the right to refuse to deliver the goods, and Gotion New Materials shall pay the corresponding interest.
Guoxuan New Materials said that after the agreement was signed, the payment for both parties had been settled, and the prepaid deposit had not been deducted. At the same time, the two parties agreed that the contract period is June 30, 2023, which has already expired, but Yongtai Technology has not returned the prepaid deposit.
In April and December 2023, Gotion New Materials sent letters to Yongtai Technology twice, requesting a full return of the deposit. Yongtai Technology explained the performance of the contract to Guoxuan New Materials and its lawyer in the form of a letter (including the situation of Qianrui Technology being entrusted to place an order). Yongtai Technology believes that Guoxuan New Materials, knowing that the contract is still being performed, deliberately denied and concealed part of the facts in order to seek improper benefits, in a vain attempt to claim back the advance deposit by means of breach of contract.
On the night of the disclosure that the funds in the bank account were frozen, Yongtai Technology quickly announced that it had submitted a civil complaint to the Taizhou Intermediate People's Court on the contract dispute with Guoxuan New Materials and Qianrui Technology and had filed the case.
According to Yongtai Technology, as of the time of this lawsuit, the "Material Purchase Agreement" stipulates that the minimum purchase amount of lithium hexafluorophosphate should be 4,500 tons, and the actual purchase volume of Guoxuan New Materials and Qianrui Technology is 1,472 tonsIt is agreed that the minimum purchase volume of vinylene carbonate should be 660 tons, and the actual purchase volume of Guoxuan New Materials and Qianrui Technology is 139 tons. The above behavior has caused Yongtai Technology to lose 2 actual sales of lithium hexafluorophosphate7.3 billion yuan. At the same time, the overdue interest owed by the two parties has reached 932610,000 yuan.
Therefore, Yongtai Technology requested that Guoxuan New Materials and Qianrui Technology be ordered to pay a total of 22.9 billion yuan, compensation for losses 28.2 billion yuan, after deducting the margin of 200 million yuan, the two should still pay 31.1 billion yuan.
At present, the key to the dispute between the two parties is whether the payment is settled, and how to define the settlement of the paymentIs there a basis for the relevant clauses in the contract?Titanium **APP called Yongtai Technology and Guoxuan Hi-Tech respectively, but did not receive a positive response, only saying that the public information shall prevail.
What is the commission
Gotion New Materials is a subsidiary of Gotion Hi-Tech, whose main business covers three major sectors: power lithium battery systems, energy storage battery systems and power transmission and distribution equipment, and is one of the leaders in the field of power batteries for new energy vehicles. Lithium hexafluorophosphate is one of the main raw materials of its products, and Yongtai Technology is its upstream supplier.
Titanium Technology noted that on June 1, 2022, Yongtai Technology agreed that Guoxuan New Materials would continue to perform the contract by entrusting Qianrui Technology to procure. As the entrusted party, all documents signed by Qianrui Technology and Yongtai Technology and the affairs handled by Gotion New Materials are recognized, and all responsibilities and obligations arising therefrom are borne by Gotion New Materials.
Subsequently, Yongtai Technology, Guoxuan New Materials, and Qianrui Technology fulfilled the order contracts such as FDGX-CDDD-2022050602 in the form of order contracts. In the above-mentioned order contract, Yongtai Technology has been shipped, and the unpaid amount of Guoxuan New Materials and Qianrui Technology totals 10.2 billion yuan, Guoxuan New Materials, Qianrui Technology placed orders, Yongtai Technology completed the stocking of arrears 1$2.8 billion.
Equity penetration shows that Qianrui Technology is 79% owned by Anhui Guoxuan Feidong New Energy Technology17%, the company is controlled by Nanjing Guoxuan Holding Group, the second largest shareholder of Guoxuan Hi-Tech. The actual controller behind Qianrui Technology is Li Jin, and at the same time, Li Zhen is also the actual controller of Guoxuan Hi-Tech. This also means that Qianrui Technology and Guoxuan Hi-Tech are related parties.
However, why does Gotion Hi-Tech no longer purchase directly, but chooses to entrust related parties to purchase on its behalf?Is there a transfer of interests in the middle?Why is the deposit of 200 million yuan advanced by Guoxuan Hi-Tech when Qianrui Technology performs the contract?Yongtai Technology insiders said that the process of the matter and the process of performance have been clearly listed in the announcement, and it has not yet been tried, and the final judgment of the court shall prevail.
Chen Zhenhui, a senior partner of Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, told the company that the procurement of related parties is not a problem in itself, and the key lies in whether the procurement process follows market rules and corporate governance principles to ensure the transparency, fairness and compliance of procurement. In this case, the regulator and the investor should pay attention to the procurement details, contract terms and the reasonableness of the deposit advance between Gotion Hi-Tech and related parties to determine whether there are issues such as benefit transfer.
The industry speculates that the dispute between Yongtai Technology and Guoxuan New Materials stems from the sharp fluctuations in lithium prices. With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, lithium hexafluorophosphate, as one of the key raw materials for lithium battery electrolyte, was once in high demand. According to public data, lithium hexafluorophosphate was less than 70,000 tons in 2020, and it began to rise wildly in 2021, and its ** soared to about 600,000 tons in early 2022. And just as the ** was soaring, the two sides signed an agreement. When Qianrui Technology began to purchase on behalf of Qianrui Technology, the average price of lithium hexafluorophosphate was about 240,000 tons.
According to the "Material Purchase Agreement", the procurement ** is based on the market pricing of the supplier in the current month, and the two parties negotiate amicably. Since 2023, lithium hexafluorophosphate has been affected by the cycle, and the price has fallen more seriously. According to Mysteel data, on January 9 this year, lithium hexafluorophosphate** fell to 650,000 tons, back to the 2022 level. However, for the online information, the titanium ** app has not been confirmed by both parties.
The endless ups and downs of lithium hexafluorophosphate ** have also put pressure on the performance of Yongtai Technology. According to the terminal application field, the main products of Yongtai Technology can be divided into medicine, plant protection, lithium battery and other materials. According to the third quarter report of 2023, Yongtai Technology achieved an operating income of 311.2 billion yuan, net profit loss attributable to the parent company 09.9 billion yuan, down year-on-year. 01%, mainly due to the decline in sales revenue of lithium battery materials business and ** business. The overall gross profit margin for the same period was 153%, showing a downward trend, mainly due to the fierce market competition and the year-on-year decline in sales of lithium battery material products.
According to the announcement disclosed by Yongtai Technology, the Hefei Intermediate People's Court has now filed the case and has not yet been heard. For the follow-up progress of the case, we will continue to track it. This article was first published in Ti **app, author|Lu Wenyan