After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 161 - 160: Ningde Era
"I'm hardly that fortunate."
Li Bing's expression was somewhat awkward as he visited during Ningde Era's preparations for B-round financing.
They were raising three billion, with a one-billion shortfall, so he modestly mentioned it, considering he had a good relationship with Lu Liang.
Old Zeng had asked for his help to connect some dots and put in a good word to see if he could pull in ten to twenty billion for Ningde.
After all, Lu Liang had openly declared his optimism about the new energy industry and was often seen buying and selling BYD stocks.
Not just new forces like Weiliao hoping to gain his favor but also battery companies looking to invest.
Because after Ningde Era's B-round, there might not be a C-round; they could possibly go straight to an IPO.
Lu Liang shone brightly in the speculative field, directly confronting three institutions led by Soros and winning.
So much so that people had forgotten that he also had a keen eye for investments.
Although he just dabbled, none of those companies had failed yet.
ofo is currently valued at 250 million US Dollars, Mobike at 190 million US Dollars, and Panda at 320 million US Dollars.
And then there's NIO, still in its infancy, with no achievements yet, but with a luxurious lineup of investors.
JD, Tencent, Xiaomi, Redwood, and Tianxing, almost born with a golden spoon in its mouth.
Though valued at only one hundred million dollars, with such a lineup, it could easily be sold for several times more.
If the companies Lu Liang invested in went public, it would surely attract a swarm of individual investors following the trend.
Old Zeng hoped that Ningde could bring in Lu Liang,
to join forces and push Ningde towards listing.
"Ningde Era? I'll have someone look into it."
Lu Liang appeared thoughtful, waiting until the end of the month to update net worth. His new energy ecosystem plan was also about to unfold.
If he could get original shares during the financing stage, it would certainly be more cost-effective than acquiring them on the secondary market, but it was hard to know if Ningde was as good as Li Bing had claimed.
Lu Liang could tell that Li Bing wasn't earnestly speaking on Ningde's behalf. After all, with a net worth of several billion, he wouldn't so easily advocate for others.
Unless there was profit to be made, some plan to be devised, otherwise, unless there was a signed document in black and white, any spoken words could be completely dismissed as hot air.
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Lu Liang was unclear about what exactly Li Bing was after. Was he seeking personal connection? Or forcing him to make serious commitments in the new energy sector?
Li Bing seemed to perceive Lu Liang's thoughts and said softly, "The bigger the market, the better for all related practitioners."
New energy wasn't exactly a novel concept, it had existed for a long time before, but traditional capital had always been inactive.
Hence, the government had to issue command after command, favoring new energy and bringing in Tesla, the catfish.
They lashed out not only at car companies but also at capital.
Though capital can be detestable, economic and corporate development cannot do without it.
Take the bike-share craze of last year: in the first half of the year, it struggled, and by the second half, it exploded.
By February this year, bike-shares of red, yellow, blue, green, and cyan covered the nation, with the market still expanding.
However, capital tends toward profit and shuns harm. The new energy industry still doesn't show promises of profit to them.
And naturally, they won't invest; without capital investment, the market can't develop.
But Lu Liang was different; he represented emerging capital and had the boldness to lead the way.
If he could ignite the new energy sector, he might stimulate the market several years earlier.
Bringing results sooner might also let people like Li Bing see whether this path is correct and if it's worth persisting.
After all, not every new force is like Tesla, crowned and endorsed by the state, destined to succeed.
"I'll consider it. How's Mobike doing lately?"
Lu Liang smiled indifferently. Although Li Bing praised himself highly, Lu Liang didn't quite believe him but had no better explanation and had to take his words at face value for now.
Li Bing sighed, not continuing the original topic, "I hear they're about to enter C-round, right?"
Lu Liang chuckled, "I'm asking if you and Shen Peng have found a buyer."
"Shen Peng said that Wang Xing is quite interested, but I don't really want to sell."
"Because the money's too little?"
"Right."
Li Bing had always been researching new energy and hadn't managed Mobike much, inadvertently reaching a valuation of 190 million US Dollars.
He felt that the market's potential had not been fully tapped, and it should be possible to reach 1.9 billion US dollars, or even more.
Anyway, Meituan, Redwood, and Tencent all had loads of money, and he planned to fleece them for as much as he could.
Lu Liang said with a smile, "Let me know when you're ready to sell, I believe I still have some shares."
Tianxing Capital held 3% of Mobike, and after the B round, still had 2.7%, which should also sell for a lot of money.
"Rest assured, I will let you know."
The two chatted and laughed as the Tesla parked in the workshop was disassembled and studied by engineers.
"I'm leaving, no need to see me out."
Lu Liang didn't mind, as he wasn't interested in driving anyway.
After saying goodbye to Li Bing, he returned to his company, instructed Wen Chao to pull up Ningde Era's information, and then headed to the trading room.
Following the acclaimed delivery of the Model X, Tesla's stock opened with a significant increase of 5.5%, with the share price rising to 362 US dollars per share.
They had completed building their position during the significant drop a few days earlier, acquiring 420,000 shares, and had made a tidy profit of over 20 million US dollars.
Blue-chip stocks like Apple, NVIDIA, and Microsoft followed suit with gains, accumulating a total profit of over 44 million US dollars.
Approaching midnight, Lu Liang returned to his office and reviewed the financing report of Ningde Era.
Ningde Era had a valuation of 30 billion, and planned to finance by offering 10% of its equity.
As a non-internet company planning to raise 3 billion dollars, this sum was quite extravagant.
Because traditional companies would typically file for an IPO with valuations of a few billion and couldn't sustain financing figures as high as 3 billion dollars.
Ningde Era dared to finance in such a manner, naturally it had the confidence to do so; its predecessor was the lithium battery leader ATL, primarily manufacturing consumer batteries for phones, computers, cameras, and other electronic devices.
Old Zeng was one of the founders of ATL, and five years ago, he took the power battery division and started anew, thus founding Ningde Era.
In the first year, they participated in the largest global demonstration project for wind and solar energy storage and transportation—the Zhangbei Storage Project.
In the second year, they reached a cooperation with Huachen BMW to develop a power battery system for a pure electric SUV.
In the third year, they began developing power batteries for buses for Yutong Group, the world's largest bus manufacturer.
In the fourth year, they directly ventured out of Asia and established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Germany to develop technology for recycling used batteries.
They made a mark each year,
Stepping up a level every single year.
In just five years, Ningde Era had rapidly risen to become one of the leaders in the domestic power battery industry and gained a foothold in the global market.
"Old Li wasn't just boasting."
As the bells tolled in the early morning, Lu Liang's eyes widened in disbelief, "Five years? A trillion in market value?"
[On May 31, 2021, Ningde Era's stock closed at 434.1 yuan per share, with a market value of 1.01 trillion yuan.]
Lu Liang gasped in shock, scratching his head.
He began to doubt if he had heard wrong, or if money had become worthless.
Currently in Big A, including the Hong Kong market, only five companies had crossed the trillion market value mark; Tencent was the only private enterprise, with the other four being the top four banks.
Even considering the distant US stocks, adding Ali, there were only six: four banks and two internet giants.
Ningde Era must be exceptional to reach a trillion in market value as a battery manufacturer.
"Perhaps it's not Ningde being exceptional, nor money becoming worthless," Lu Liang pondered, stroking his chin.
This message revealed a very important piece of information.
The future development and prospects of the new energy market were faster and larger than anyone could have imagined.
Ningde Era, now focusing on power batteries, would likely maintain this as their main strategy for at least the next five years.
A battery supplier breaking the trillion market value threshold suggested that the new energy market could rival the internet in size.
Shallow waters cannot raise big fish.
"Five years, it happened so quickly."
Lu Liang furrowed his brow, as Li Bing had said that it would be at least three years before NIO's vehicles could go into mass production.
This meant that it would take at least three years from establishment to mass production.
Ningde Era planned to go public within the next two years; taking a conservative estimate, even if it were a year and a half, that would be the second half of next year.
The rise of the new energy market would not start until after 2018, leaving him perhaps less than two years.
It was time for Lu Liang to begin making his plans as well.
