Spin-off of Star Charge before IPO: 'Queen of Charging Piles' Danwei Shao showcases financial maneuvers at Wanbang Energy

Author: A Fei

In 2014, riding on the wave of national support for charging infrastructure, a couple from Changzhou, Shao Danwei and Ding Feng, founded Star Charge as part of Wanbang Energy to incubate a charging station project.

While many charging pile operators are still struggling for profitability, Shao Danwei’s business continues to expand. Data from the China Charging Alliance shows that Star Charge has become the second-largest public charging station operator nationwide, just behind 'the top player' TELD. The company also emphasizes in its official promotion that it is the only operator in the country that has remained consistently profitable.

Recently, Shao Danwei's Wanbang Energy submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), preparing to make a push into the H-share market. However, IPO Reference noted that before filing, Wanbang Energy had stripped all operational businesses related to its well-known brand, Star Charge. In an increasingly competitive environment, is the charging station business still a lucrative venture?

Salesperson ‘Makes a Comeback’ as Group President

How long does it take to rise from salesperson to corporate president?

It took Gree's Dong Mingzhu 17 years to rise from salesperson to president, but Shao Danwei did it in just one year.

In 2004, after graduating from Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Shao Danwei turned down offers from TV stations, banks, and other public institutions, and instead joined a 4S dealership under the local Jiangsu auto distributor group, Wanbang Automobile, choosing to work as an automotive sales consultant.

According to Baidu's introduction of Shao Danwei, she became the store's top salesperson in her first month, was promoted to sales manager within three months, became the youngest general manager of the brand nationwide in six months, and was named the only Outstanding General Manager of the brand nationwide after one year. By 2005, Shao Danwei had been appointed president of Wanbang Automobile Group, leading the company to achieve annual revenue exceeding 20 billion yuan with an average annual growth rate of 70%, making it the largest auto dealer group in Jiangsu Province.

Interestingly, Shao Danwei's husband, Ding Feng, happens to be the founder of Wanbang Automobile, leaving a question mark over whether Ding Feng provided support in Shao Danwei’s rapid rise.

Under Shao Danwei's leadership, Wanbang Automobile's sales continued to rise, but she also noticed deeper signals of industry transformation. In 2014, Shao Danwei, together with her husband Ding Feng, invested in the nascent charging station industry and founded the Star Charge brand.

In its early days, Wanbang Energy mainly operated two businesses: one was the production, R&D, and sales of charging piles, and the other was the operation of charging piles.

To capture the market in the early stages of the industry, Shao Danwei adopted a 'crowdfunding to build charging piles' model — where property owners provided land, and Wanbang Energy offered free installation, maintenance, and operation of charging piles, achieving shared risks and benefits.

Leveraging this model, Shao Danwei's Star Charge quickly expanded its footprint, building over 1,400 charging piles by 2015, covering an area equivalent to the total amount constructed in any of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen over the previous seven years.

Later, Wanbang Energy set its sights on the real estate sector. In June 2017, Wanbang Energy won a more than 200-million-yuan charging pile order from Vanke, which was at the height of its success, marking the 'first nationwide real estate charging pile procurement project with an order value exceeding 100 million yuan.' Subsequently, it also became the charging pile supplier for real estate companies such as CIFI Group, Tahoe Group, Country Garden, and富力 (R&F Properties).

In an interview in 2020, Shao Danwei proudly revealed that 'Star Charge is, so far, the only charging company that has remained profitable.'

However, this prosperity did not last long. After 2020, frequent debt crises emerged in the real estate industry, and Wanbang Energy’s business in the real estate sector also encountered difficulties, often ending up in legal disputes over sales contract issues with its former real estate developer partners.

Subsequently, Shao Danwei swiftly shifted the business focus, targeting large vehicle manufacturers. Wanbang Energy rapidly signed cooperation agreements with Volkswagen, Porsche, and FAW Jiefang, continuing to expand sales and orders.

According to Wanbang Energy's prospectus, based on 2024 revenue and sales figures, Wanbang Energy is the world’s largest supplier of smart charging equipment, with global sales exceeding 470,000 units.

At the same time, Shao Danwei's Star Charge platform operates more than 80,000 charging stations. As of November 2025, Star Charge holds approximately 15.7% of the domestic public charging facilities market share, ranking second, just behind industry leader Teld.

As Wanbang Energy's charging pile business 'took off,' Shao Danwei's wealth also rose significantly. According to available information, Shao Danwei and Ding Feng have consecutively appeared on the Hurun Rich List for two years, in 2023 and 2024.

Star Charge sheds 'burden' on the eve of its IPO

The charging pile industry has always been capital-intensive, requiring significant investment and primarily relying on service fees as a revenue source, which is relatively单一. Over time, it's common for companies in the industry to incur losses. For example, TELD, the leading domestic charging pile company, has been in a long-term亏损state since its establishment in 2014, only turning a profit in 2023.

According to Star Charge’s recent IPO prospectus, its revenues for the fiscal years 2023-2024 and the first three quarters of 2025 were RMB 3.474 billion, RMB 4.182 billion, and RMB 3.072 billion respectively, with corresponding profits of RMB 493 million, RMB 336 million, and RMB 301 million.

Compared to many peers, Star Charge seems to be doing well, with continuous revenue growth. Although its profit declined by 31.84% year-over-year in 2024, it still remained profitable.

However, an in-depth analysis of Star Charge’s prospectus reveals that Shao Danwei’s claim of being “the only consistently profitable charging enterprise” may be somewhat exaggerated.

IPO Reference noted that before Star Charge filed its prospectus, it conducted an asset剥离operation.

Prior to July 2025, Star Charge mainly operated two businesses: energy equipment manufacturing and energy operations. To streamline operations, improve management efficiency, and integrate resources, Star Charge retained only the energy equipment manufacturing business and剥离ed the energy operations segment into a new external company called Star Charge Taiyi. In this transfer, Star Charge transferred equity in nine companies, including Star Charge, to Star Charge Taiyi.

Data from Tianyancha shows that Star Charge Taiyi is actually controlled by Shao Danwei and Ding Feng, currently holding 100% of the shares in both Star Charge and Star Energy.

What raises questions is that the energy operations business began to be剥离ed in July 2025, yet Star Charge's prospectus does not mention the revenue situation of the energy operations segment for 2023 and 2024.

Luo Lin from Grant Thornton told IPO Reference that after a company剥离s a business, whether it needs to disclose the revenue of the剥离ed business in the prospectus or financial reports mainly depends on whether the business constituted discontinued operations prior to剥离. According to Accounting Standard No. 42, if the剥离ed business meets the definition of discontinued operations, related information must be disclosed separately in the financial statements prior to剥离; otherwise, it might constitute a violation of disclosure requirements.

Meanwhile, Wanbang Taiyi, established on September 28, 2025, has entered the list of major customers of Wanbang Energy.

According to the prospectus, the transaction amounts between Wanbang Energy and Wanbang Taiyi in 2023-2024 and the first three quarters of 2025 were RMB 278 million, RMB 203 million, and RMB 171 million, accounting for 8.0%, 4.9%, and 5.6% of the total revenue during the respective periods. During this period, Wanbang Taiyi was one of the top five customers of Wanbang Energy.

Can selling equipment support a valuation of hundreds of billions?

Before Wanbang Energy spun off its energy operations business, it had received substantial investment from many investment institutions under the 'Star Charge' brand.

The prospectus shows that Wanbang Energy has received investments from top-tier capital firms such as CICC Capital, Schneider Electric, CCB International, Hillhouse, and IDG. In terms of its financing history, Wanbang Energy completed its Series B round of financing in 2021, after which its valuation reached approximately RMB 15.474 billion, making it a unicorn company.

After shedding 'Star Charge,' can Wanbang Energy tell more stories in the capital market?

This time, Wanbang Energy's IPO in Hong Kong will mainly use the raised funds for the construction of research and development centers, global market expansion, capacity enhancement, strategic mergers and acquisitions, and working capital replenishment, with overseas market expansion being placed in an important position.

As of September 30, 2025, Wanbang Energy's overseas revenue reached RMB 573 million, accounting for 18.6% of the total revenue in the same period, which is not a low proportion. It can be said that global expansion is the main focus of Wanbang Energy's IPO this time.

To achieve globalization, funding is clearly the primary need. As of the end of 2024, Wanbang Energy's asset-liability ratio once reached 119.4%. Although it fell back to 96% by the end of the third quarter of 2025, it is still at a relatively high level. Meanwhile, Wanbang Energy's long-term liabilities grew from RMB 395 million in 2023 to RMB 1.964 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, quadrupling in just over two years. This indicates that Wanbang Energy has increasingly relied on long-term borrowing to support its business transformation and scale expansion.

Additionally, there is the issue of accounts receivable. According to the prospectus, as of the end of November 2025, Wanbang Energy's combined accounts receivable and notes receivable amounted to approximately RMB 3.796 billion, accounting for nearly 60% of Wanbang Energy's current assets. Over the past few reporting periods, the average collection cycle was approximately 186 days, 182 days, and 229 days, respectively, showing an overall extension.

Returning to the domestic market, with the rapid development of China's new energy vehicle industry, the charging pile sector is expanding quickly. However, the growing number of competitors has forced Wanbang Energy to lower its gross margin to maintain market share. In the 2023-2024 period and the first three quarters of 2025, Wanbang Energy’s overall gross margin was 33.4%, 29.2%, and 24.6%, respectively. The decline in the gross margin of Wanbang Energy's charging pile business is primarily due to fierce market competition.

After shedding the 'Star Charge' brand, in order to justify a valuation of tens of billions and raise more funds, Shao Danwei will also need to gather more 'ammunition' for the IPO battle. However, when overseas expansion meets high debt levels, and the ongoing 'price war' continues to erode profits, how long can Wanbang Energy sustain its charging pile business? This remains to be seen as the IPO unfolds.

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