Shares in Pylon Technologies plunged as much as 15 percent today after the Chinese lithium-ion battery manufacturer said that its chairman is under investigation by authorities.

Pylon’s share price [SHA:688063] plummeted 14 percent to close at CNY64.81 (USD8.97). Earlier in the day it sank to CNY64. The stock has lost 87 percent of its value since it peaked in August 2022.

A case has been opened against Wei Zaisheng and he has been detained, the Shanghai-based firm said yesterday, citing a notice sent to the company’s majority shareholder Zhongxingxin Telecom from the Yongqing County Supervision Commission in Langfang, northern Hebei province. No reasons were given for the probe.

Pylon, which mainly provides energy storage products for communication base stations, industrial parks and new energy power plants, continues to operate as normal and there has been no change in leadership, it said.

62-year-old Wei has served as chairman at Pylon since 2019. He has worked at investment holding firm Zhongxingxin for more than 30 years reaching the position of chairman in 2017.

Shenzhen-based Zhongxingxin, which owns 24.6 percent of Pylon, is the largest shareholder of communications equipment giant ZTE with 20.1 percent equity. Wei also held a number of positions at ZTE, including chief financial officer, senior vice president and director. Most members of Pylon’s senior management team used to work at ZTE.

Founded in 2009, Pylon logged a poor performance last year due to changing market conditions. Pylon’s net profit plunged 59 percent from the year before to CNY515.6 million (USD71.3 million) and revenue plummeted 45 percent to CNY3.3 billion (USD456 million), according to its latest financial report.

（Picture: Veer）