The company raised nearly 850 million for materials related to UV LED

On the evening of September 24, Qiangli New Materials announced that its application for the public issuance of convertible bonds was approved by the Listing Committee of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext Board. It is reported that the company plans to raise no more than RMB 850 million through the public issuance of convertible bonds. After deducting issuance expenses, the funds will be used for the new project of an annual output of 12,000 tons of Environmental protection photoinitiators and 50,000 tons of UV LED high-performance resins and other related raw materials, as well as pilot workshops, and to supplement working capital.

The announcement shows that the new products from the company's fundraising investment projects are mainly environmentally friendly photoinitiators and high-performance UV LED resins and monomers. These new products are mainly new environmentally friendly photocuring raw materials compatible with UV LED light sources.

Qiangli New Materials stated that this fundraising investment project will further achieve the localization of key raw materials in the field of electronic chemicals such as photoinitiators, meet the demand for the popularization and industrialization of UV LED technology, and help downstream enterprises control VOCs emissions, which is of great significance to promoting green industrial development.

Qiangli New Materials is mainly engaged in the R&D, production, sales, and related trading of various electronic chemicals dedicated to photoresists. Its photoresist-dedicated electronic chemicals refer to chemical raw materials used in the production of photoresists, including photoresist photoinitiators, photoresist resins, monomers (reactive diluents), and other additives. The company's products are classified by application area, mainly into four categories: PCB photoresist-dedicated chemicals (photoinitiators and resins), LCD photoresist photoinitiators, semiconductor photoresist photoinitiators, and photoinitiators for other applications.

As an important raw material market for the photocuring industry, China is experiencing rapid growth in the demand and production of raw materials such as photoinitiators, monomers, and resins. However, while the photocuring industry in China is developing rapidly, it also faces numerous challenges. Given issues such as migration and reproductive toxicity associated with some photoinitiators, domestic and international regulations, particularly in EU countries, have gradually introduced many standards and restrictions on the use of photoinitiators in food packaging printing inks. In this context, the demand for environmental protection photoinitiators continues to rise, gradually replacing traditional photoinitiators in applications such as food packaging and home decoration.

In fields such as complete vehicle manufacturing and electronic material processing, traditional high-pressure mercury lamps for light curing are gradually being replaced by UV LED light sources. It is reported that, compared with traditional mercury lamps, UV LED light sources feature energy saving, low thermal radiation, long service life, instant on/off switching, ozone-free operation, and flexible structure. With the continuous enhancement of environmental protection awareness, the replacement rate of UV LED light sources will continue to rise, creating a broad market substitution space for related products such as photoinitiators, monomers, and resins for UV LED applications.

In addition, downstream end customers in the light curing Industry are mainly manufacturers in the ink and coating sectors, which are key industrial sources of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. In September 2017, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment released the "Work Plan for the Prevention and Control of Volatile Organic Compounds during the 13th Five-Year Plan," explicitly requiring in-depth comprehensive governance of VOCs in the packaging and printing Industry and vigorously promoting the use of low- or zero-VOC-emitting inks, coatings, adhesives, fountain solutions, etc. Among these, UV LED offers better VOC emission reduction effects compared to traditional UV (mercury lamps) and water-based inks. To control VOCs at the source, adopting solvent-free inks as the fundamental Solution, and using light curing processes with UV LED as the light source has become the most ideal alternative direction.