PTL announced in February that its board members had approved the plan to spin off the company’s subsidiary KATOP and have it listed in a domestic stock exchange. In order for KATOP to become a separate limited holding company, PTL will also undergo a shareholding restructuring. Following this process, PTL will still remain as the largest shareholder of KATOP with the same percentage of ownership. KATOP is located in Zhongguancun, the technology district in China’s capital Beijing. PTL is a major Chinese supplier for battery-related materials and automated processing equipment. 

PTL’s core businesses are (1) anode materials and graphitization service, (2) separator films and film coating service, and (3) automated processing equipment. Turning to KATOP, it offers automated platforms for die cutting, separator coating, and other device assembly processes. PTL currently has an 82.92% stake in KATOP.

According to the information given by PTL, KATOP has extended its offerings from solutions for the frontend portion of the production flow to solutions for the middle and backend portions. Its machines can coat, cut, wrap, stack, inject, inspect (e.g., helium leak detection, battery capacity detection), and assemble. 

PTL also stated that the shareholding restructuring will result in KATOP forming its own company board, supervisory board, shareholder group, management team, and other mechanisms for operational management and oversight. Having a complete corporate administrative structure is necessary for KATOP in executing its long-term development strategy that has been laid out by PTL.

In terms of financial performance, PTL reported that the realized revenue from automated processing equipment for Li-ion battery manufacturing came to RMB 1.0462231 million for the second half of 2022. This figure includes transactions that occurred between its own business units and reflects a year-on-year growth rate of 93.11%. 

This article is a translation of a Chinese article posted by Martin at TrendForce. It contains information that is either sourced from other news outlets or accessible in the public domain. Some Chinese names are transcribed into English using Hanyu Pinyin.