Chinese Realtor Yinyi’s Belgian Unit, Groupe PSA to Form USD202 Million NEV Gearbox JV
Dou Shicong
DATE:  Jun 03 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Chinese Realtor Yinyi’s Belgian Unit, Groupe PSA to Form USD202 Million NEV Gearbox JV Chinese Realtor Yinyi’s Belgian Unit, Groupe PSA to Form USD202 Million NEV Gearbox JV

(Yicai Global) June 3 -- Belgian transmission maker Punch Powertrain, which is also the wholly-owned unit of Chinese real estate developer Yinyi [SHE:000981], plans to set up a joint venture with French car-making giant Groupe PSA, with registered capital of EUR180 million (USD202 million), to produce transmissions for use in new energy vehicles.

The JV will be in Punch’s home of Sint-Truiden in Northeast Belgium. Punch will invest assets relevant to the business from its local plant valued at EUR110 million to take a 61 percent stake in the JV, while Groupe PSA will front EUR70 million in cash for 39 percent of equity, per a statement Yinyi released yesterday.

The JV will produce DT2 dual clutch transmission for mild hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, London-based industry news portal Auto Futures reported. It will initially supply Groupe PSA’s global operations and then other carmakers globally. The agreement still has to pass through the usual regulatory hoops, per the report.

The pair will also inject EUR245 million into the JV based on their shares after its establishment under their contract, which means Punch will invest EUR150 million additionally in cash.

Groupe PSA, which is headquartered near Paris, licensed Punch as its electric transmission supplier in May 2018, per the statement, which added corresponding products are now in the research and development phase. Their small-scale trial production is slated to start in 2022. Mass production will fire up in 2023 to help Groupe PSA electrify all its marques by 2025.

Yinyi, which is based in Ningbo, a port city in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, began transforming its business in 2016, acquiring US maker of airbag gas generators ARC Automotive and then Punch for CNY3.3 billion (USD465 million) and CNY8 billion in the following two years to tap into high-end manufacturing.

This ambitious expansion has, however, plunged it into dire financial straits. The company has steadily lost CNY1.1 billion and CNY7 billion over the past two years. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange sent the developer a delisting warning -- two straight years in the read trigger the alert -- last month in consequence.

Yinyi’s stock has been sliding since peaking at about CNY13.30 (USD1.90) in 2016. It closed at CNY1.42 (20 US cents), down 0.7 percent, with a market value of CNY5.7 billion today. The Shanghai Composite Index was, by contrast, up by 0.47 percent at 2,935.04 points.

Editor: Ben Armour
 

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Keywords:   Yinyi,Punch Powertrain,PSA