炒股炒成董事长：一个牛散和一座锂矿的八年江湖

This article details the eight-year journey of industrial investor Wang Xin, who evolved from a retail investor betting on Jiangte Electric to becoming the company's chairman, with the following key takeaways and practical insights:

1. Timeline of core events: Wang entered Jiangte Electric in 2017, and was soon trapped by a sector downturn. He averaged down as the price fell, bringing his cost basis to 6 yuan per share, at one point facing an 80% unrealized loss. Jiangte was eventually labeled ST (special treatment for at-risk listed companies) and its share price dropped to 1.25 yuan, on the brink of delisting. In 2021, the lithium cycle reversed, and Jiangte's share price surged more than 25-fold from its bottom, earning Wang hundreds of millions of yuan in unrealized gains. When lithium prices fell again in 2023 and Jiangte's valuation returned to a trough, Wang gained control by acquiring equity from Jiangte's top-tier controlling shareholder, and was elected chairman in 2025.

2. Practical investment lessons: Investing in cyclical sectors requires patience to wait for cycle inflection points. Averaging down at low prices amplifies gains during the upcycle, but trading stocks is fundamentally different from operating a business. Whether returns can be ultimately realized depends on operating capability, not just betting on the cycle.

This article outlines the cyclical dynamics of the lithium industry and the path for capital entry, offering valuable reference for new energy brands, with key insights as follows:

1. Industrial and consumer trends: The lithium mining sector is highly cyclical and extremely sensitive to new energy vehicle (NEV) policies and sales. Lithium prices fell after subsidy cuts in 2018, surged on the NEV boom in 2021, and turned down again after 2023. Brands need to build counter-cyclical resilience in advance and time布局 around cycle turning points.

2. The importance of resource positioning: Jiangte Electric positioned itself in the lithium-ion track early by leveraging local lithium resources in Yichun, and delivered over 25-fold share price growth during the upcycle. This demonstrates that early positioning in core resources can generate enormous value growth for new energy brands.

3. Reference for capital operations: Brands can introduce industrial capital to optimize ownership structure and resolve operating difficulties during cyclical troughs. Meanwhile, industrial capital can gain entry at low cost via indirect control acquisition, opening up a new path for mutually beneficial cooperation between brands and capital.

This article summarizes eight years of cyclical changes and capital operation paths in the lithium industry, offering key insights on opportunities and risks for sellers along the lithium battery supply chain, with core content as follows:

1. Cyclical opportunities: The lithium industry follows distinct cyclical fluctuations tied to the NEV sector. The industry is at a cyclical trough in 2025, making it a window to布局 for the next upcycle. Early布局 in lithium-related businesses will allow participants to capture future growth dividends.

2. Actionable capital operation lessons: Instead of buying up shares at high prices on the secondary market, Wang gained control at low cost by acquiring the upper-tier equity of the listed company's controlling shareholder. This model is a valuable reference for industry players looking to gain access to listed companies, as it significantly cuts acquisition costs.

3. Clear risk warning: The lithium industry sees extremely large cyclical swings. Even if you gain control of quality lithium assets, improving operating capability is required to realize returns. Jiangte Electric still remains unprofitable today, so industry participants should guard against the risk of sustained losses during downcycles and avoid blind bottom-fishing.

This article summarizes transition experience and industrial opportunities for lithium battery and traditional manufacturing factories, with key insights as follows:

1. Lessons for transition布局: Jiangte Electric gradually transitioned from a traditional agricultural tool and motor manufacturer, built out its lithium mining and lithium battery business early, and captured the new energy boom to achieve a leap in value. This shows that traditional manufacturing factories can unlock enormous growth potential by positioning early in new tracks aligned with policy and consumer trends, and leveraging existing foundational capabilities to drive transition.

2. Business opportunities in cyclical troughs: Cyclical troughs are the period when corporate equity valuations are lowest, making it the best time to introduce industrial capital. When facing operating difficulties, traditional manufacturers can open up equity to bring in capable industrial partners, gaining access to new capital and management resources to pull the enterprise out of trouble.

3. Cross-sector risk warning: Jiangte's acquisition of Jiulong Auto resulted in nearly 1.1 billion yuan in goodwill impairment after the acquisition underperformed, leading to a massive annual loss that nearly pushed the company into delisting. This demonstrates that factories must complete thorough due diligence and pre-emptively mitigate risks such as goodwill impairment when pursuing cross-sector M&A, and avoid blind expansion.

This article outlines the current development status and pain points of lithium battery enterprises, offering insights on industry trends and business opportunities for service providers along the lithium battery supply chain, with core content as follows:

1. Industry development trends: The lithium battery industry is distinctly cyclical, alternating between troughs and peaks every few years. As the global NEV industry continues to expand, long-term demand for lithium resources will grow steadily, creating sustained service demand across the industry development cycle.

2. Core pain points of industry clients: Lithium mining enterprises generally face capital shortages, operating losses, and unstable control during cyclical troughs. Many even approach delisting, and struggle to find suitable acquirers or investors, as well as lack access to professional capital operation support.

3. Corresponding solution directions: Service providers can develop equity matchmaking and capital operation advisory services tailored for lithium battery companies at cyclical troughs, connecting them with industrial capital seeking布局 opportunities to help resolve corporate capital and control issues. Service providers can also offer operational and management consulting for new controlling investors, to help improve operations and pull companies out of the cyclical trough.

This article highlights a new path to gaining control of A-share listed companies, offering insights for platform operation, management and risk mitigation, with core takeaways as follows:

1. New trends in capital operation: A new model has emerged for industrial investors to gain control of listed companies: instead of directly bidding for shares on the open secondary market, investors accumulate low-cost positions secretly in the secondary market first, then acquire upper-tier equity from the listed company's controlling shareholder at a cyclical trough to gain control at low cost. This model is more stealthy and lower-cost, so exchanges need to pay close attention to its compliance.

2. Risk mitigation priorities: Distressed ST cyclical companies on the brink of delisting are far more likely to experience control changes. Exchanges should strengthen oversight over control transfers at these companies, require complete information disclosure, prevent non-compliant operations, and protect the interests of retail investors.

3. Implications for platform development: Traditional manufacturing companies transitioning into the new energy track with core resources hold high investment value. Exchanges can strategically attract这类企业 to diversify their listed company pools, while issuing clear risk warnings for cyclical firms to guide rational retail investment.

This article presents a new case study of lithium industry development and capital market operations, offering new insights for relevant research, with core contributions as follows:

1. A typical path of industrial development: An important path for China's domestic lithium industry development involves local traditional manufacturing listed companies transitioning into lithium battery production leveraging local mineral resources. Jiangte Electric's development is a perfectly representative case. Its two full cyclical swings over the past eight years also provide a complete dataset for research on the factors driving lithium industry cycles, with policy subsidies and NEV sales identified as the core drivers of cyclical fluctuation.

2. A new model of capital operation: This article introduces an entirely new model for gaining control of listed companies: industrial investors enter by accumulating positions quietly on the secondary market, then indirectly take control of the listed company by acquiring upper-tier control rights when the enterprise enters a cyclical trough. This approach has far lower costs than traditional tender offer acquisitions and is more stealthy, making it a new capital market trend worthy of further research.

3. New research questions: Whether a non-industrial background investor can smooth cyclical fluctuations and improve long-term enterprise value after taking control of a cyclical listed company through operational improvements remains to be verified. This case provides a completely new research sample for studies on industrial capital involvement in listed company governance.