According to the China Star Market Daily, Shanghai ROLECHEM New Materials Co., Ltd. ("ROLECHEM ") has recently withdrawn its application for issuance and listing, and the company has terminated its IPO application.
ROLECHEM New Materials, established in 2016, is a high-tech enterprise mainly engaged in the research and development, production, and sales of new energy battery electrolyte materials and electronic chemicals.
The company is one of the few suppliers in China with the manufacturing and innovation capabilities for a variety of lithium-ion battery electrolyte materials, and has mastered the preparation technology for dozens of new lithium salts and functional additives for lithium-ion battery electrolytes. The main products include lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI), lithium difluoro(oxalato)borinate (LiODFB), functional additives R005 for consumer batteries, and lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF4), etc.
The company supplies a variety of new lithium salts and functional additives for lithium-ion battery electrolytes to well-known domestic and international lithium battery and electrolyte manufacturers, including Ruitai New Materials, Tinci Materials, Capchem, Zhejiang Zhonglan, CATL, MUIS, Enchem, etc., covering various types of lithium-ion batteries such as electric vehicle batteries, consumer electronics batteries, and energy storage batteries, and is widely used in electric vehicles, electric tools, 3C digital products, and other fields. The company is also one of the pioneers in the industry with the mass production capability of sodium salts for sodium-ion battery electrolytes.
ROLECHEM applied for IPO in the Science and Technology Innovation Board in June 2023, planning to publicly issue no more than 19.958 million shares and raise about 650 million yuan. Among them, 344 million yuan will be used for the second phase of the ROLECHEM (Shandong) New Material Production Base construction project, 106 million yuan for the sodium salt technology improvement and expansion project of the ROLECHEM (Shandong) New Material Production Base, and 200 million yuan for supplementary working capital.
Financially, from 2020 to 2022, the proportion of new energy battery electrolyte materials in ROLECHEM' main business income for each period was 42.42%, 62.13%, and 67.08%, respectively, with the proportion increasing year by year. However, the gross margin of this product has decreased, from 48% in 2021 to 35% in 2022. In addition, the company's reliance on a single main business product leads to a high degree of dependence on the downstream industry.
ROLECHEM also mentioned the risk of overcapacity in its prospectus and regulatory inquiry responses. In recent years, the market for new energy battery electrolyte materials has developed rapidly. In 2022, the global effective capacity of LiFSI (lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide) was only about 14,000 tons, while the planned expansion of LiFSI capacity by domestic enterprises has exceeded 240,000 tons.
ROLECHEM also stated that many of its downstream customers are not only building their inhouse production capacity but also have expansion plans. Among them, Tinci Materials currently has a LiFSI production capacity of 6,300 tons and plans to expand to an annual production of 70,000 tons; Capchem currently has a LiFSI production capacity of 1,200 tons and plans to introduce partners such as Nippon Shokubai to expand production capacity to 10,000 tons; CATL's subsidiary, Sicong, currently has a LiFSI production capacity of 10,000 tons and plans to expand to 50,000 tons.
Some industry insiders revealed to public media, "Currently, the new energy industry market is highly competitive, and some lithium-ion battery electrolyte and new energy battery manufacturers have begun to build inhouse production capacity to reduce costs, which will directly affect upstream electrolyte material companies."
