According to the early IPO news, on December 25, the second Division of anti-monopoly law enforcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation publicized the new joint venture case of Schneider Electric Industry Simple Type Co., Ltd. and Wangang Digital Energy Co., LTD.
According to the publicity, Schneider Electric Industrial Simple Form Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “Schneider Electric”) and Wanbang Digital Energy Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as “Wanbang Digital Energy”) intend to establish a joint venture. The joint venture will be engaged in the development and supply of consumer products in Europe, namely charging pile equipment for electric vehicles, photovoltaic hybrid inverters and residential, commercial and industrial energy management batteries.
Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Schneider Electric and Wanbang Digital Energy will hold 51 per cent and 49 per cent of the joint Venture, respectively, and jointly control the joint venture.
Schneider Electric was founded in France in 1942. The ultimate controller of Schneider Electric is Schneider Electric Europe AG, a global provider of energy management and automation solutions for residential, commercial, data center, infrastructure and industrial customers. As part of the Group, Schneider Electric and other group subsidiaries provide consumer solutions to commercial buildings, businesses, fleets, residential and electric vehicles to enable a resilient, efficient and sustainable EV charging experience.
Founded in 2014, Wanbang Digital Energy is a digital energy one-stop solution provider, providing electric vehicle charging and energy storage hardware, software and related services, headquartered in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.
The company’s new energy vehicle charging brand Star charging is one of the core brands of Wanbang, and is the head unicorn in the Asian digital energy field. Based on Internet of Things and Internet of vehicles technology, Star Charging integrates various charging pile operation groups through Star charging App and urban intelligent charging monitoring platform, providing unified payment, transaction management, operation and maintenance, and providing end users with fast search, online payment, Internet of vehicles and other services. Its business scenarios cover three major product segments: charging network, microgrid and virtual power plant operation network.
Star charging charging pile ten years cumulative sales of the world’s first. China Charging Alliance data show that as of September 2024, the number of public charging piles operated by Star Charging is 584,000, ranking second in the country. Star charging customers are more than 60 global car companies charging ecological partners, including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Volkswagen, BYD, BAIC and other well-known car companies at home and abroad.
In 2023, Schneider Electric and Wanbang Digital Energy reached a cooperation, Schneider Electric to provide supply chain consulting solutions to Star charging, optimize the supply chain, solve the problem of maximizing the use of energy, resources and other issues, to deal with the challenges brought by the substantial growth of Star charging downstream orders. It is reported that Schneider Electric has designed a lean production line for the key products of DC charging piles and established an end-to-end supply chain with high toughness and high collaboration, which has reduced the domestic inventory turnover of Star charging by 20% and increased the production capacity of the direct flow line by 25%.
In May this year, Star Charging and Schneider Electric signed a joint venture framework agreement on restructuring of European charging and energy storage and other related businesses to jointly promote clean energy transformation in Europe.
It is reported that Wanbang digital Energy signed A listing guidance agreement with Guotai Junan in 2020, and restarted its IPO in the near future, planning to list in A shares. At the end of October, the official website of the Securities Regulatory Commission showed that Wanbang Digital Energy had been listed in the Jiangsu Securities Regulatory Bureau for the record, and the guidance agency was Guotai Junan. Since its establishment, Wanbang Energy has received investment from IDG Capital, Taikang Investment, Nortie Assets, Guochuang Zhongding, CICC and other institutions.
