ST's market value hits 110 billion, Jiangsu's richest person’s "late" layout ends up winning big

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Source: Scale Business

Written by | Zhang Jiaru

Edited by | Liu Zhentao

Have you ever seen an ST stock with a market value of hundreds of billions?

In the minds of many investors, ST stocks imply poor performance, sluggish stock prices, and a struggle on the verge of delisting, let alone a market value of hundreds of billions. However, in the A-share market, there is indeed such a “counterintuitive” company called *ST Songfa.

As of the close on March 20, *ST Songfa had a market value of 114.2 billion yuan, with an increase of 196% since 2025 and an astonishing increase of 580% since 2024.

Even more exaggerated is its performance: in 2025, *ST Songfa reported revenue of 21.639 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 274.95%, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.655 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1083.05%.

Whether it’s the impressive performance or the market value in the hundreds of billions, it seems completely at odds with the “ST” label. Many people can’t help but ask: how did *ST Songfa end up with the ST label? And how did it undergo such a transformation? When will it officially remove this “hat”?

Behind all this is a capital drama orchestrated by Jiangsu’s richest person. In this grand play, what seemed to be a “late” layout actually allowed Jiangsu’s richest person to win big.

From “ceramic shell” to “the first private shipbuilding stock”:

The triple comeback of *ST Songfa

The full name of *ST Songfa is Guangdong Songfa Ceramics Co., Ltd., which, as the name suggests, is a company that started with ceramics.

In March 2015, *ST Songfa was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the “first stock of daily-use ceramics” in A-shares, and at that time, the company’s ceramic products were exported to over 50 countries and regions.

In the first year of its listing, *ST Songfa generated revenue of 291 million yuan and a net profit attributable to shareholders of 36.8865 million yuan. After that, the company’s performance fluctuated significantly. In 2024, the company’s revenue was 275 million yuan, even less than in its listing year, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of a loss of 76.6424 million yuan.

In April 2025, after *ST Songfa released its 2024 annual report, due to a negative figure for net profit before and after non-recurring items for the fiscal year 2024, and revenue below 300 million yuan after deducting unrelated business income and income lacking commercial substance, the company’s stock was labeled with ST (delisting risk warning).

Just half a year before wearing the hat, a reform concerning the fate of *ST Songfa was initiated.

In October 2024, *ST Songfa initiated a major asset restructuring, planning to divest all assets related to ceramics and inject 100% equity of Hengli Heavy Industry, which focuses on research, production, and sales of ships and high-end equipment. In May 2025, the restructuring of *ST Songfa was completed, thus becoming the first private shipbuilding stock in China.

The strength of the injected Hengli Heavy Industry should not be underestimated. In 2025, Hengli Heavy Industry had 115 ship orders with a total business amount exceeding 100 billion yuan. According to statistics from the International Ship Network, in terms of deadweight tonnage, Hengli Heavy Industry ranked second in China and the world in newly signed orders in 2025.

Hengli Heavy Industry is a core asset under the control of Jiangsu’s richest couple, Chen Jianhua and Fan Hongwei, and is a key sector in Hengli Group’s layout in high-end equipment manufacturing and shipbuilding industry. Hengli Group’s total revenue in 2025 was 899 billion yuan, ranking 81st on the Global Fortune 500 list, with its industrial layout spanning multiple fields including refining, new materials, and high-end manufacturing.

With the assistance of Hengli Heavy Industry, *ST Songfa completed its performance turnaround in 2025, achieving revenue of 21.639 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 274.95%, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.655 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1083.05%.

It is worth noting that the growth rate of *ST Songfa’s performance in 2025 is calculated based on the restated performance data of 2024. If based on the original version of the 2024 data, the increase would be even more astonishing.

Accompanied by explosive performance, *ST Songfa also rose strongly in the secondary market. As of the close on March 20, *ST Songfa’s market value reached 114.2 billion yuan.

At this point, *ST Songfa had completed its triple comeback in terms of performance, stock price, and growth expectations.

The transformation of its fundamentals is the confidence behind *ST Songfa’s removal of the ST label. On March 9, *ST Songfa announced that the circumstances leading to the delisting risk warning had been eliminated and that it had submitted an application to the Shanghai Stock Exchange to revoke the ST label. According to the rules, the Shanghai Stock Exchange will make a decision on whether to revoke it within 15 trading days.

This transformation from a “ceramic shell company” to a giant shipbuilding enterprise worth hundreds of billions not only reshaped the fate of *ST Songfa but also further solidified the wealth landscape of its actual controllers, Chen Jianhua and his wife.

The 2026 Hurun Global Rich List shows that the wealth of Chen Jianhua and his wife amounts to 250 billion yuan, an increase of 120 billion yuan in one year, firmly securing their position as Jiangsu’s richest person.

The victory of the latecomer

The dual consideration of capital and industry by Jiangsu’s richest person

The core increment of Chen Jianhua and his wife’s wealth landscape comes from a typical “victory of the latecomer.”

As early as August 2018, Hengli Group finalized the acquisition of 29.91% equity of *ST Songfa, gaining control of the listed company. Why did it wait until 2024 to start injecting assets?

This “late” capital rhythm is driven by both policy considerations and industrial realities.

According to the “Management Measures for Major Asset Restructuring of Listed Companies,” injecting assets within 36 months after a change of control that triggers the shell acquisition indicators is treated as a major asset restructuring (backdoor listing), and the operating entity of the targeted assets must meet the IPO issuance conditions, with review standards consistent with those for an IPO.

Chen Jianhua and his wife obtained control of *ST Songfa in August 2018, and it wasn’t until August 2021 that the 36 months elapsed. If Hengli Heavy Industry had injected assets earlier, the review would have been significantly more difficult, with a longer cycle and higher uncertainty.

The core reason for the “lateness” is that Hengli Group’s high-end shipbuilding platform, Hengli Heavy Industry, had not yet been established. In July 2022, Hengli Group specifically established Hengli Heavy Industry and spent 2.11 billion yuan to bid for the core assets of STX Dalian Group, which had been idle for ten years.

In the following two years, Hengli Heavy Industry advanced production line reconstruction, technical team formation, first ship delivery, and customer development, until 2024, when Hengli Heavy Industry had secured hundreds of billions of yuan in orders and possessed stable delivery capabilities before officially starting the asset injection.

This long-cycle strategy of “first controlling the shell, then nurturing production, and finally replacing” has effectively avoided the risk of injecting immature assets early on and ensured that the restructuring can contribute strong performance right from the start.

From a timing perspective, *ST Songfa’s main business was sluggish in 2024, making the “hat wearing” inevitable, and injecting assets was almost the most effective path to maintain its listing.

In terms of timing for industrial layout, Chen Jianhua and his wife were also “late.” The current shipbuilding boom cycle had already started by the end of 2020, but Hengli Heavy Industry was only established in July 2022 and acquired STX Dalian assets, with the first ship starting construction in 2023.

In terms of timing, Hengli Heavy Industry’s entry seems to have missed the best window of the industry cycle. However, this “lateness” has become a unique competitive advantage.

Industry insiders analyze that due to the previous overheating of the industry, many leading shipyards took orders too aggressively, causing the coverage period for their hand-held orders to rise rapidly from about 2.5 years to over 3.5 years, with some even approaching 4 years. The rapid saturation of capacity led many shipowners to turn to emerging shipyards due to long waiting times.

Meanwhile, Hengli Heavy Industry, leveraging new shipbuilding docks and flexible production scheduling, accurately undertook overflow orders. According to Hengli Heavy Industry’s official website, the number of ships it undertook in 2025 reached 115, with a total business amount exceeding 100 billion yuan.

Entering 2026, *ST Songfa has repeatedly announced major contract signing announcements, with total order amounts exceeding 5 billion US dollars, including 306,000-ton VLCC super-large crude oil tankers and 158,000-deadweight-ton crude oil tankers.

To further solidify long-term competitiveness, in January of this year, *ST Songfa announced a plan for a private placement, intending to raise 7 billion yuan for investments in integrated projects for green and intelligent high-end ship manufacturing among others.

As the process of removing the ST label progresses, the private placement advances, and orders continue to be fulfilled, *ST Songfa is expected to officially change its name to “Hengli Heavy Industry,” completely bidding farewell to the ceramic era.

The story of *ST Songfa is not just a tale of an ST stock’s comeback; it’s also a classic operation about rhythm and industrial judgment. The “late” layout of Jiangsu’s richest person not only did not miss the opportunity but rather completed precise positioning at the most appropriate moment.

In the business market, the true winners are often not the earliest starters but those who know how to seize the moment. We will continue to pay attention to the subsequent development of *ST Songfa.