On the evening of October 16, 2024, Songfa Co., Ltd. announced that it plans to acquire 100% of the shares of Hengli Heavy Industry, and at the same time divest the original daily ceramic manufacturing business and turn to the research and development, production and sales of ships and high-end equipment. It is worth noting that the two companies were acquired by Chen Jianhua and Fan Hongwei, and belonged to the internal transfer of assets under the same actual controller.
According to the "2024 Hurun Global Rich List", Chen Jianhua and Fan Hongwei have a net worth of 115 billion yuan, ranking 122nd on the list. Founded in 1994, Hengli Group's business covers petrochemicals, films and new materials, polyester chemical fibers, textiles and other fields.
Last year, the group achieved revenue of 811.737 billion yuan, ranking 81st in the Fortune Global 500, 25th in the top 500 Chinese enterprises, 3rd in the top 500 Chinese private enterprises, 5th in the top 500 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, and 1st in the top 500 private manufacturing enterprises in China's manufacturing industry in 2024.
STX (Dalian) Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Hengli Heavy Industry, was established in October 2006, by the world's fourth largest shipbuilding enterprise - Korea STX Group invested 3 billion US dollars in Dalian Changxing Island Economic and Technological Development Zone, covering an area of nearly 7,000 acres, mainly producing bulk carriers and car carriers.
This was the world's largest shipbuilding and marine integrated production base at that time, and it was also the largest foreign-funded project in the development strategy of the coastal economic belt of Liaoning Province, and the largest foreign-funded shipbuilding project introduced by China so far. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 30, 2007, and it was officially put into operation in April 2008, and the first 58,000-dwt bulk carrier STX BEGONIA was completed and successfully launched in just 8 months, and successfully delivered to the shipowner on April 17, 2009.
As we all know, the shipbuilding industry has a relatively obvious cyclical nature. In 2012, STX Dalian began to suffer serious losses, gradually ceased production the following year, and declared bankruptcy liquidation on December 20, 2015. However, in the following nine years, more than a dozen auctions ended in failure. Until July 2022, Hengli Heavy Industry acquired STX Dalian assets, which had been idle for ten years, at a price of 2.11 billion yuan.
Chen Jianhua once said in an interview that the shipbuilding business will play a supporting role in the transportation of crude oil, coal and finished products for Hengli. It is not surprising that Hengli Group entered the shipbuilding industry across industries, and after taking over, it quickly completed the repair of the plant and key production lines, and put the equipment manufacturing sector into production in 25 days and the precision casting sector in 52 days. At the end of the same year, Hengli Group undertook orders for 4 20,000 dwt and 2 61,000 dwt bulk carriers, and the shipbuilding business was officially restarted.
On January 28, 2023, Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park was fully operational. On April 18 this year, the first ship built since the resumption of shipbuilding business, the 61,000-dwt bulk carrier "Hengli 33 (HN2033)", was delivered ahead of schedule, marking that the company has fully equipped with modern shipbuilding capacity. On September 26, the first self-produced engine was successfully delivered ahead of schedule, achieving a major breakthrough in independent production in the field of marine power.
At the same time, Hengli Group continues to invest. In July this year, the company increased its capital by 9.2 billion yuan to start the second phase of the Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park project, focusing on high value-added green ships such as ultra-large oil tankers (VLCCs), ultra-large liquefied gas carriers (VLGC), and ultra-large container ships, as well as high-end offshore equipment manufacturing businesses such as offshore floating production and storage vessels, offshore floating wind power, and drilling platforms.
After the full production is reached by the end of this year, it will form an annual production capacity of 180 engines (fully covering all models of G95 and below, four low-carbon and zero-carbon fuel types of LNG, methanol, ammonia and LPG), an annual steel processing capacity of 2.3 million tons, and an annual output of 7.1 million deadweight tons.
Since the acquisition of STX Dalian, Hengli Group has invested nearly 30 billion yuan. In less than two years, Hengli Heavy Industries has become one of the largest shipyards in the world, with four dry docks, the longest of which is 700 meters, which can accommodate two ships at the same time.
Up to now, Hengli Heavy Industry has determined the production of 140 new ships, including ultra-large bulk carriers, ultra-large oil tankers, ultra-large ore carriers (VLOC), ultra-large container ships, ultra-low temperature ships, etc., with a cargo value of 10.8 billion US dollars (about 77 billion yuan). In mid-September this year, it won an order for 10 LNG (liquefied natural gas) dual-fuel 21,000TEU ultra-large container ships from Eastern Mediterranean Shipping (MSC), the world's largest container shipping company, entering the container ship construction market for the first time and the first dual-fuel ship order it undertook.
Write at the end
Behind the listing of Hengli Heavy Industry Curve, the global shipbuilding industry is in a new round of rapid growth cycle. Clarkson Research predicts that the total investment demand for ships will reach $2.3 trillion from 2024 to 2034, of which about $1.7 trillion will be needed for newbuilding investment.
Chinese shipbuilders will play an important role, as the industry's "upstart" Hengli Heavy Industry, this time to enter the market at the right time. In 2022, the company achieved a revenue of 27.9176 million yuan and a net loss of 24.6428 million yuan, and last year's revenue rose 26 times to 768 million yuan, turning losses into profits, with a net profit of 4.049 million yuan.