Jinli New Energy's "Backdoor Listing"—Reshaping the Lithium Battery Separator Market?

AI · Jinli New Energy’s Curve Listing: How Will It Impact the Competition in the Separator Industry?

Report by China Economic Journalists Zhang Yingying and Wu Kezhong, Beijing

From withdrawing the Sci-Tech Innovation Board IPO to the formal completion of asset restructuring, Hebei Jinli New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Jinli New Energy”), a leading lithium battery separator manufacturer, has achieved a key milestone in going public, adding a new variable to the competitive landscape of the lithium battery separator industry.

Currently, Jinli New Energy has been acquired by Fosu Technology (000973.SZ). In January 2026, the transfer of 100% equity was completed, and in February, Fosu Technology issued additional shares to officially list, marking the end of this major asset restructuring that lasted over a year. Through this transaction, Jinli New Energy has achieved a “curve listing.”

Recently, Fosu Technology told the China Business Journal that it has incorporated Jinli New Energy into its overall strategic plan, maintaining its independent operation while achieving business synergy, leveraging the platform, capital, shareholders, and management advantages of the listed company to support its expansion and improve performance.

Rising to Second Place

Jinli New Energy’s main business is lithium battery separators. Separators are one of the four main materials in lithium batteries, primarily used to separate the positive and negative electrodes, preventing contact and short circuits. Their performance determines the interface structure, internal resistance, and directly affects capacity, cycle life, and safety.

Based on manufacturing processes, lithium battery separators are divided into dry and wet processes. Among these, wet-process separators dominate the market due to their comprehensive performance advantages.

As a leading enterprise in China’s wet-process separator field, Jinli New Energy’s total separator capacity reaches 5.9 billion square meters (as of June 2025), ranking among the top in the industry.

According to the “China Lithium-Ion Battery Separator Industry Development White Paper (2026)” jointly released by EVTank and Yiwei Economic Research Institute, in 2025, China’s total lithium-ion battery separator shipments reached 32.85 billion square meters, a 44.4% increase year-over-year. Of these, dry-process separators shipped 6.33 billion square meters (up 20.2%), and wet-process separators shipped 26.52 billion square meters (up 51.6%), accounting for 80.7% of the market.

In 2025, Jinli New Energy’s shipment volume in the domestic separator market further rose. In the domestic market, Enjie (a subsidiary of Enjie Co., Ltd.) holds over 30%, maintaining the top position; Jinli New Energy surpassed Xingyuan Materials to rank second. The top ten companies also include CNMC Technology, Jiangsu Housheng, Huiqiang New Materials, ZTE New Materials, Sichuan Zhuoqin, Lanke Tu, and Hengli Petrochemical.

Over the past three years, the global lithium battery separator industry has undergone deep adjustments due to supply-demand restructuring, with IPO and refinancing activities in the capital markets significantly cooling down. After Jinli New Energy voluntarily withdrew its Sci-Tech Innovation Board IPO application in 2023, the company turned to seek “curve listing” through major asset restructuring.

In November 2024, Fosu Technology announced plans for a major asset restructuring, proposing to acquire 100% of Jinli New Energy’s equity through share issuance and cash payments, while issuing shares to its controlling shareholder, Guangxin Group, to raise supporting funds. After more than a year of efforts, in January 2026, Jinli New Energy’s 100% equity was transferred, and in February, Fosu Technology issued additional shares to list officially, marking the full implementation of this merger and restructuring.

After the transaction, Jinli New Energy became a controlled subsidiary of Fosu Technology, leveraging the listed company’s platform to access direct financing channels, reduce financing costs, and expand customer resources through the brand credit of the listed entity, thereby strengthening overall competitiveness and profitability.

Fosu Technology stated that it has developed a systematic integration plan: first, incorporating Jinli New Energy into its overall strategic planning to achieve business synergy while maintaining independent operation; second, relying on the platform, capital, and shareholder resources of the listed company to support Jinli New Energy’s expansion and performance improvement; third, maintaining its management team and organizational structure stable, with the board and management controlling strategic decisions, operations, and personnel appointments, while strictly managing internal control risks.

Currently, with increased volatility in the lithium battery separator market and accelerated technological iteration, industry consolidation trends are evident, and market concentration is expected to further increase. Besides Jinli New Energy’s integration into Fosu Technology, Enjie announced in November 2025 its acquisition of Zhongke Hualian, which not only supplies separator production equipment but also has subsidiaries like Lanke Tu with separator manufacturing capacity, ranking among the top ten in shipments. As of March 6, this acquisition was still underway.

Price Rebound

Since 2023, the lithium battery separator industry has experienced a cycle of supply-demand mismatch adjustment, with new capacity concentrated in release, downstream power battery demand slowing temporarily, and intensified industry competition leading to product price declines and pressure on corporate profits.

Financial data shows that from 2023 to 2024, Jinli New Energy’s net profit attributable to shareholders dropped from 131 million yuan to a loss of 91 million yuan. During the same period, Enjie’s net profit attributable to shareholders shifted from 2.527 billion yuan to a loss of 556 million yuan; Xingyuan Materials’ net profit went from 576 million yuan to 364 million yuan, a decline of 19.87% and 36.87%, respectively.

A turning point appeared in the second half of 2025. As downstream demand in the separator industry continued to recover, supply and demand gradually improved, and product prices bottomed out and rebounded. Jinli New Energy’s first-half 2025 net profit attributable to shareholders turned positive at 98 million yuan, achieving a turnaround from loss to profit; Enjie is expected to achieve a net profit of 109 million to 164 million yuan in 2025, with performance recovering to positive.

Data indicates that Jinli New Energy’s sales in 2025 are expected to exceed 4.5 billion square meters, with 2.011 billion square meters sold in the first half, doubling from 1.035 billion in the same period last year. Regarding customer structure, core clients include CATL, BYD, Guoxuan High-tech, EVE Energy, and Ruipu Lan Jun, with the top five customers contributing about 80% of revenue.

Fosu Technology told reporters that under the support of national policies and driven by the global energy transition, the growth of new energy vehicles in the power battery sector is steady, and the energy storage battery market will enter a period of rapid development, while consumer batteries remain stable. Industry prices have gradually stabilized since the second half of 2024, and supply-demand structures are becoming more balanced.

GGII (High-tech Industry Research Institute) predicts that the supply-demand balance is shifting from loose to tight, with leading companies operating at full capacity, driving capacity utilization rates sharply higher. However, due to expansion cycle restrictions, a supply-demand gap may emerge by 2027. Prices remain low, with only slight rebounds in wet-process separators in the second half of the year, and a full upward cycle has not yet begun.

An analyst from Xinluo Lithium Battery Materials Separator told reporters that since the second half of 2025, industry demand has unexpectedly recovered, with supply-demand structures improving and experiencing structural shortages. High-quality capacity remains fully sold, and prices have rebounded from the bottom; the industry will maintain high prosperity in 2026, with tight supply of high-quality capacity, further industry consolidation, and competition optimization, providing room for separator prices to rise further.

Technological Iteration

The continuous iteration of power and energy storage battery technologies is driving separators toward thinner, higher ionic conductivity, higher strength and heat resistance, and optimized coating technologies. Under this trend, the adoption of 5μm separators is accelerating.

Dongwu Securities analysis states that the mainstream lithium battery base film products are currently 7μm and 9μm, with battery manufacturers gradually purchasing 5μm base films for product upgrades. Currently, only CATL extensively uses 5μm separators, with Jinli New Energy and Lanke Tu as the only qualified suppliers, creating high market barriers. GGII notes that domestic separator capacity is generally sufficient, but high-end separators are becoming more scarce. The demand for 5μm separators in power batteries is rapidly increasing, and few companies have stable mass production capabilities, with 60% technical premium over standard products.

Fosu Technology revealed that Jinli New Energy dominates the ultra-thin high-strength separator segment, holding a 63% market share in 2024, with its 5μm wet-process separator products ranking first in shipment volume.

To maintain competitiveness amid technological changes, Jinli New Energy has developed products and reserves covering all-solid-state and semi-solid-state batteries.

According to independent financial advisory reports, Jinli New Energy can produce high-quality products such as 2μm ultra-thin high-strength separators, ultra-high porosity support membranes for solid-state batteries, water-based PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) coated separators, oil-based aligned aramid mixed coating separators, and water-based ceramic + PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) composite coated separators. The company is also involved in semi-solid lithium battery separators, solid electrolytes, aramid materials and separators, matrix point-coated separators, and lithium-sulfur battery separators. For example, in semi-solid lithium batteries, it has developed gel electrolyte coated separators and high-conductivity solid electrolyte coated membranes; in lithium-sulfur batteries, it has developed asymmetric sulfur-lithium conducting coating separators and semi-solid sulfur-lithium conducting coating separators.

Regarding the challenges posed by full solid-state battery mass production to the separator industry, Xinluo analyst said that full solid-state batteries are expected to achieve commercial application around 2030, with leading separator companies already preemptively developing frontier technologies. Although full solid-state batteries do not require traditional separators as intermediate barriers, their market penetration is expected to remain relatively low until 2030–2035, mainly used in high-end scenarios, with minimal impact on traditional separators. In the longer term, ultra-thinning, ultra-strengthening, and coating modification technologies will remain core development directions to meet downstream demands for high safety and high energy density applications.