Seizing Opportunities: Dongxu Optoelectronics Acquires Graphene Pioneer Company for Over 70 Million

During the "Two Sessions," proposals for new materials represented by graphene are being hotly discussed among delegates. Taking advantage of this moment, Dongxu Optoelectronics is going with the trend and continuing to increase the company's investment in the graphene sector.

Dongxu Optoelectronics announced tonight on March 8 that the company acquired the equity of 1.2477 million yuan held by three shareholders of Shanghai Carbon Source Huigu—Guo Shouwu, Ma Shengjie, and Wu Haixia—at a price of 8 million yuan, while at the same time making a capital increase of 65.4545 million yuan to Carbon Source Huigu. The total consideration for the merger and acquisition project is 73.4545 million yuan. Upon completion of the operation, Dongxu Optoelectronics will hold 50.5% of the equity of Carbon Source Huigu, and the company will have another graphene industrialization platform company in addition to "Xutan New Materials."

At the same time, the acquired party also committed that Shanghai Carbon Source Huigu's after-tax net profit in 2016, 2017, and 2018 would not be less than 5 million yuan, 10 million yuan, and 20 million yuan respectively.

Regarding this acquisition, Gong Xin, Board Secretary of Dongxu Optoelectronics, stated that the company completed the acquisition of Shanghai Carbon Source Huigu using its own funds, which will further enhance the company's graphene technology level, accelerate the realization of low-cost and high-quality graphene preparation, greatly improve the development speed of the company's graphene business, and enhance the company's profitability.

Industry observers believe that Shanghai Carbon Source Huigu has been at the forefront of the industry in the industrial application of graphene, and this acquisition marks that Dongxu Optoelectronics has already placed its finger on the "window paper" of industrial application.

Dongxu Optoelectronics sets its sights on graphene industrialization

Public information shows that Shanghai Carbon Source Huigu is a company focused on the large-scale preparation and application technology development of graphene, and has made breakthrough progress in the preparation, separation, and purification technologies and processes of single-layer graphene oxide and graphene. According to the announcement, the graphene products produced by the pilot line of Shanghai Carbon Source Huigu have achieved a single-layer rate of over 99%, with a purity of 99.9%, making it the first company in China whose pilot line production has achieved the large-scale preparation of high single-layer rate, high-quality graphene products. At the same time, due to the significant reduction in preparation costs, Carbon Source Huigu has made the large-scale industrial application of graphene possible.

In addition, the graphene/lithium iron phosphate batteries produced by Carbon Source Huigu can meet the charge and discharge conditions at a 10C rate, significantly shortening the battery's charge and discharge time, extending the battery's service life, and increasing the battery capacity. Dongxu Optoelectronics stated that lithium iron phosphate batteries are currently widely used in new energy vehicle power batteries, with huge market space in the future. It is worth noting that the core technology of Carbon Source Huigu comes from the research group of Professor Guo Shouwu of the Institute of Micro/Nano Science and Technology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

It is reported that Shanghai Jiao Tong University's graphene research has always been at the international forefront. As of 2015, its graphene patent applications have reached 145, ranking second among domestic universities, enterprises, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other important research institutions. The core technology of Carbon Source Huigu comes from the research team of Professor Guo Shouwu at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Professor Guo Shouwu has been engaged in nano and graphene research for over a decade and has applied for more than 30 related patents.

"Tunghsu Optoelectronics chose Carbon Source Huigu for three reasons: first, the breakthrough it has achieved in the preparation of low-cost, high-quality graphene; second, the breakthroughs it has made in fast charging and discharging of graphene-based lithium batteries, as well as the huge market prospects for lithium batteries in the future; third, the strong R&D capabilities of its core team and Shanghai Jiao Tong University's advantageous position in the global graphene R&D field. I believe that acquiring Carbon Source Huigu will bring new vitality to Tunghsu Optoelectronics' graphene business and form a new growth point for performance," said Wang Zhonghui, head of Tunghsu Optoelectronics' investment.

"These materials have excellent performance and stable quality, and can significantly shorten battery charging and discharging time, extend battery service life, and increase battery capacity." Wang Zhonghui said that Tunghsu Optoelectronics' current focus for breakthrough in graphene industrial application is mainly in three directions: transparent conductive films, lithium batteries, and thermal films. This acquisition will play an important role in promoting the company's realization of graphene industrial application.

Tunghsu Optoelectronics began its involvement in the graphene business as early as 2014 through cooperation with the research group of Professor Qu Liangti of the School of Chemistry at Beijing Institute of Technology. In 2015, Tunghsu Optoelectronics and Beijing Institute of Technology established a joint venture, "Beijing Xutan New Materials Technology Co., Ltd.," as a platform to promote graphene industrialization, conducting work on graphene preparation, new materials R&D, and industrialization.

In 2015, Tunghsu Optoelectronics and the China Graphene Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance established Beijing Tunghsu Huaqing Investment Co., Ltd. to initiate and establish multiple graphene industry development funds, comprehensively promoting the layout of the graphene industry through fund control and equity participation, realizing the graphene development strategy of "Global M&A, China Integration." Recently, the new graphene research achievement "Graphene Generates Electricity from Water" by the technical core team of Xutan New Materials, a subsidiary of the company—the research group of Professor Qu Liangti—was published in the world's authoritative scientific journal Nature.

Graphene is hailed as a miraculous new material that will change the world due to its exceptional properties. To date, Dongxu Optoelectronics has listed the graphene industry as an important pillar in the company's future industrial development strategy, and is actively developing its graphene industry chain layout. Through multi-level exchanges and cooperation with partners that possess advanced technologies and abundant resources, Dongxu Optoelectronics will further strengthen its resource reserves and strategic positioning in the graphene industry.

Market analysts believe that Dongxu Optoelectronics' layout in the graphene field has become clear. Through a two-pronged layout of technology R&D and industrial investment, the company has seized the initiative in the development of the graphene industry and become one of the leading enterprises in the domestic graphene industry. With the strong support of Dongxu Optoelectronics' substantial strength and the unfolding of its layout, the company's ambitions in the graphene industry will gradually come to fruition.