Behind The Logistics Enterprises Going Public: PE / VC And Industrial Investors Competing For Trillion Smart Logistics

Zhao Na, researcher of the 21st century innovation capital research institute, reports from Suzhou

Five years later, China is ushering in a new round of logistics listing peak.

Since May 28, JD logistics, China Eastern logistics and manbang group have been listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange and NYSE respectively. In addition, Fuyou truck and an'neng logistics have submitted their IPO documents. The approval status of Haier's RI RI Shun's application for Shenzhen Stock Exchange's gem IPO was "inquired". The announcement of SF holdings disclosed the intention of SF to go to the Hong Kong stock exchange for listing in the same city.

In recent years, with the application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and big data, as well as the higher requirements for logistics in the fields of new retail and intelligent manufacturing, logistics has become a new infrastructure in the era of digital intelligence.

The 21st century innovation capital research institute takes "smart logistics" as the research theme and direction in this report.

Ten year leap of smart Logistics

According to the data of China Federation of logistics and purchasing, the demand of logistics enterprises for smart logistics mainly includes logistics data, logistics cloud and logistics equipment. In 2019, the total cost of social logistics in China will exceed 14 trillion yuan. In the same year, the market scale of smart logistics has reached 500 billion yuan.

Deloitte China's logistics and transportation team has analyzed that the logistics industry has moved from automation and unmanned to data-based and intelligent, and the leading enterprises in the industry actively layout intelligent logistics and seize the opportunity. The team believes that the scale of smart logistics market will exceed trillion yuan by 2025.

2010-2020 is a decade of rapid changes in China's logistics industry.

It is also in this decade that the wide application of new technology has brought great changes to the industry. Logistics informatization and mobile Internet have greatly promoted the human efficiency improvement and process optimization of the logistics industry. In terms of mode innovation, the franchise system of "three links and one access" and the mode innovation of online freight platform of manbang, huolala and Fuyou trucks have greatly improved the industry efficiency.

In the capital market, within five months from September 2016, Yuantong express, Yunda express, Shentong express and SF holdings completed the listing through A-share backdoor, while the US stock market ushered in Zhongtong express and Baishi group.

As Jingdong Logistics, China Eastern Airlines logistics and manbang have successively landed on the capital market, together with Fuyou truck, aneng logistics, ririshun and Shunfeng, which have disclosed the listing process, a new round of listing peak is emerging.

If the leading role of the listing tide five years ago was the traditional logistics enterprises, especially the express delivery enterprises, then the protagonist of this small listing peak is the intelligent logistics enterprises. Behind the rapid growth of these emerging enterprises, there are also many changes in industry, enterprise and investment angle.

First, logistics has long been no longer a purely cargo handling industry. On the one hand, logistics has become a technology driven industry, which needs strong technical reserves as support. On the other hand, from the perspective of logistics supply chain, its "handling" is not even limited to physical objects.

Second, centralization is still an important industry issue. However, centralization is still an important investment opportunity in the field of logistics. What investors need is the ability to find the turning point of scale and centralization.

Third, investors' understanding of the industry has changed. Different from believing in the power of the combination of "Internet +" and capital in the early years, investors pay more attention to scale and efficiency, and make profits through business model, scale and informatization.

Fourth, the rapid emergence of local platform companies. Representatives of such enterprises include SF, JD logistics, manbang, Zhongtong, etc. for them, business focus is very important, and how to carry out ecological layout through technology and other means is also an important issue.

PE / VC investment Roadmap

On May 28, JD logistics was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, with a closing market value of more than HK $254 billion (US $32.7 billion) on the first day of IPO. Before the listing of JD logistics, only one round of private financing was opened, and the post investment valuation given by investors was 13.4 billion US dollars.

The return of smart logistics to PE / VC investors can be seen only a few years or even months later.

Investors with different genes and backgrounds see different industry maps, and different resource endowments form the investment roadmap of the team. Recently, the 21st century innovation capital research institute interviewed a number of logistics investors from CDH investment, Junlian capital, Zhongding capital and Dazheng capital.

CDH investment

Over the past 10 years, CDH investment has successively set up more than ten leading enterprises in the field of logistics, including deppon logistics, Baishi logistics, Jingdong Logistics, Zhongtong express, Shunfeng express, aneng logistics, flash delivery, smart technology, Fengchao, etc. Deppon logistics, Baishi logistics and Jingdong Logistics have been listed, and many other invested enterprises in the logistics sector are expected to enter the open capital market in the coming year.

According to Zhang Haifeng, managing partner of CDH VGC fund, there are four waves of investment opportunities in China's modern logistics industry, including express delivery, express transportation, Internet + logistics, and intelligent + logistics. After completing the system layout in the logistics sector in accordance with the "four in one" philosophy, the team has continuously expanded the boundaries of investment and research, and made frequent efforts in the business sector. In the supply chain field, it has invested in Lehe food and ruigu mall, in the consumer channel side, it has invested in Shihui group and Wuye noodles, and has invested in the shop secretary in the cross-border e-commerce field.

● Junlian capital

Junlian capital has invested more than 10 enterprises in the field of logistics, among which Haichen logistics, millway, Jingdong Logistics and China Eastern Airlines logistics have been listed. In addition to Fuyou truck which has submitted the listing application and Shunfeng City, which has recently disclosed the progress of listing in Hong Kong, Junlian capital's logistics supply chain plate is entering a new harvest period.

In the view of Junlian capital team, the logistics supply chain industry has entered a new stage, opening a new prelude to it enabling various fields. On the other hand, new scenarios will generate new traffic and new data, corresponding to the demand for new resource integration and delivery methods.

Zhongding capital

Zhongding capital has invested in manbang group, huolala, Zeyi logistics and Fuyou truck in the vehicle transportation industry. From the perspective of the whole logistics field, its representative projects include Jingdong Logistics, Debang express, zongteng network, G7, Zhonggu logistics, cross logistics, etc.

Yin Junping, partner of Zhongding capital, introduced that the team's current focus is on mode innovation and intellectualization. In addition, the team logistics track investment has become the "infrastructure" for other track investment. For example, Zhongding's industrial Internet investment map with "supply chain +" as the core investment strategy has also taken shape.

● Dazheng capital

Dazheng capital invested in anergy logistics in January 2020, and is the largest external institutional shareholder of the company. In addition to Anneng logistics, Dazheng capital also invested in Kaijing technology, a logistics SaaS enterprise.

"China has not only a huge e-commerce market, but also a broader consumer Internet and industrial Internet market." Chen Weihao, partner of Dazheng capital, believes that logistics has become an infrastructure, and there are still investment opportunities in the market. New opportunities mainly come from business model innovation and information technology innovation.

The power of industrial investors

In April this year, Great Wall strategic consulting, a new economic think tank, released the report 2021 on Unicorn enterprises in China. According to the statistics of the report, as of the end of March 2021, three of the 12 listed super Unicorn enterprises are smart logistics enterprises, which are rookie network, Jingdong Logistics and manbang group.

In the same statistical period, among the 251 Unicorn enterprises in China, 18 enterprises belong to the smart logistics track, including four new unicorns: Fuyou truck, tiandihui, Shunfeng Tongcheng and didi freight.

The proponents of the aforementioned intelligent logistics Unicorn include not only many PE / VC institutions, but also logistics and technology giants who actively layout the industrial ecology.

? Poulos

Founded as a logistics real estate investment, development and operation company, pros has developed into a global leading industry service and investment management company focusing on new infrastructure. As an alternative asset management agency, the asset management scale of global is 62 billion US dollars in China.

With private equity investment institution Yinshan capital, the company focuses on equity investment in the large logistics ecosystem, and its main investment direction is smart logistics and supply chain ecosystem. The representative projects of the team include China Southern Airlines logistics, one meter Dida, Fengchao technology, zongteng logistics, G7, etc.

Jingdong

In the field of science and technology, Jingdong, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are important representatives of industrial investment. Jingdong group holds 79.12% of the shares before the listing of Jingdong Logistics. In addition, JD group's investment in the logistics field includes dada group, kuaizhou express, Fuyou truck, tongtianxiao, shadowfax, etc.

As an industrial investor, JD logistics not only supports Fuyou truck with funds, but also brings important support for the company's business. According to the prospectus of Fuyou truck, the top three shippers of the company in 2020 are deppon logistics, Jingdong Logistics and SF express. The three companies contributed 55.8% of the total revenue in 2020 and 45.3% of the first quarter of 2021.

Shun Fung

Among the subsidiaries and affiliated companies of SF, Shenzhen SF Tyson Holding Co., Ltd. established in 2008 and Shenzhen SF Investment Co., Ltd. established in 2014 are responsible for investment functions. In addition, SF also contributed to private equity investment funds in the logistics sector through its companies.

Shunfeng Tongcheng, which has recently been listed, is a holding subsidiary of SF. According to the data of Qingke private equity, SF's investment in logistics related fields also includes flexport, Beidou, Carlos, Fengchao technology, xintean supply chain, etc.

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