Li Ka-shing invests in the lithium battery

On January 26, the stock price of Jia Sheng Holdings reached its highest point of 1.57 Hong Kong dollars during the morning session and closed sharply higher during the afternoon session, with a growth rate of 62.22 percent. Jia Sheng Holdings stock price rose by 10 times in 2 months starting from December 1, 2009 after the company announced at the end of last year that it would acquire Thunder Sky Energy to extend its presence into the new-energy market.

Li Ka-shing’s obtainment of Jia Sheng Holding shares and entry into the electric vehicle market reminds people of Buffett’s investment in a lithium battery company. Of course, it is not only 2 capital giants who are investing in the lithium battery sector. Winston Chung, president of Sky Energy, has also invested a record 30 billion Hong Kong dollars in an electric vehicle project last year.

According to Feng Shun, a researcher from Xiangcai Securities, the possibility of huge development in the electric vehicle and lithium battery industries is the reason why the above-mentioned capital giants want to invest in the industries. At present, if 1 unit of lithium battery can power a mobile phone, then nearly 10,000 units of such lithium batteries can power an electric vehicle. That is to say, if electric vehicles can be widely popularized, a huge lithium battery market will appear. Feng Shun said, "If we sell 10 million motor vehicles per year, and 0.1 percent of these vehicles are electric, the number of China’s electric vehicle users will increase by 10,000 every year, creating a lithium battery demand of 100 million units."

Feng stated, "Development of the mobile phone and notebook computer markets allowed the lithium battery sector’s compound annual growth rate to reach 25 percent over the past 5 years. It is not difficult to maintain the growth rate in the future if the electric vehicle market can expand rapidly."

Source: People’s Daily

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