The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on November 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Tuniu (Nasdaq: TOUR) Announces $500 Mln Investment from HNA Tourism (GlobeNewswire)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) to Invest $1.5 Bln in Takeout Delivery Platform Ele.me (English article)
Alibaba’s Jack Ma Said to Be in Discussions to Buy SCMP (HKEx: 583) Stake (English article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Announces Q3 Results (PRNewswire)
Bank of Jinzhou Starts $943 Mln Hong Kong Initial Offering (English article)
Bottom line: Weak share reactions to upbeat news from Trina, ReneSola and Ming Yang reflect investor skepticism towards new energy stocks, as they face lingering issues of overcapacity and phasing out of government subsidies.
Investors pour rain on upbeat new energy news
A flurry of upbeat news is in the headlines today from 3 of China’s largest new energy equipment makers, led by a return to the profit column for solar panel maker ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) after a year in the red. At the same time, wind power equipment maker Ming Yang (NYSE: MY) also announced its latest quarterly results that were quite upbeat, and solar panel maker Trina (NYSE: TSL) said it obtained a modest new financing from some major global lenders.
But contrary to expectation, investors greeted the string of upbeat news by dumping shares of all 3 companies, reflecting a high degree of skepticism in the market. Ming Yang led the downward migration, with its shares slipping 3.7 percent after it announced its latest quarterly results. Its shares now trade more than 17 percent below the price for a previously announced buyout bid to take the company private. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New financing deals for Canadian Solar and Trina reflect the growing role of solar panel makers as power plant builders, and could provide some stability to the sector by providing a more reliable stream of new projects.
Trina, Canadian Solar get new financing
Two big new financing deals are shining a spotlight on a major shift taking place in the solar panel sector, with manufacturers increasingly moving into the field of solar farm development. The shift is seeing solar panel makers become their own best customers, buying up panels for use in solar farms that they build themselves. The latest headlines have Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ) and Trina (NYSE: TSL) securing major new financing for such construction, in 2 deals that are both quite large but also very different in nature.
Solar panel makers have been building their own plants for several years now, though the trend has accelerated in the last year. The traditional model was for them to build solar farms using their own panels, and then sell those plants to longer-term buyers. But in an interesting twist to that story, solar panel makers may be looking to hold those farms themselves and put them into separate units, my sources say. Those units could then be spun off later into separate publicly listed companies, in a play that would look like a new energy version of traditional power utilities. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 29. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Mobile Restaurant Queuing App ‘Delicious No Wait‘ Wins $100 Mln Series C (English article)
Bottom line: The bankruptcy of Tianwei signals Beijing will allow a new round of failures for weaker solar panel makers, with YIngli and ReneSola the most likely to come under pressure.
Future looks bleak for Tianwei
News that solar panel material maker Baoding Tianwei is on the brink of collapse has sent shudders through the entire sector, as everyone guesses who might be next to fall in a looming new clean-up of China’s bloated industry. Tianwei has been in trouble for a while now, after the company became the first state-run firm to ever default on a domestic bond interest payment back in April.
That development certainly didn’t bode well for Tianwei, but it remained unclear if the local government or Beijing would ultimately step in to bail out the company and save its investors. Now we finally have the answer to that question, following media reports that Tianwei and 3 of its business units are formally filing for bankruptcy. (English article; Chinese article) Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Trina’s plan to separately list its solar plant-building assets is likely to meet with lukewarm to frosty demand, while Yingli’s downward spiral will continue as customers abandon the company due to its financial weakness.
Trina eyes IPO for plant-building unit
More signs of stress are on display in the solar panel sector, where shares of the stumbling Yingli (NYSE: YGE) are coming under pressure after its latest earnings report and a new plan by Trina (NYSE: TSL) to separately list some capital-intensive assets has overtones of desperation. These 2 stories reflect the intense pressure solar panel makers continue to feel as their sector still struggles to recover from a downturn that dates back 4 years due to massive oversupply.
Panel prices have rebounded somewhat over the last 2 years and many of the best-run companies have returned to profitability during that time. But intense pressure still remains for less well-run companies like Yingli. Even better performers like Trina are feeling pressure as they pour massive money into construction of new solar power plants, in a bid to create more demand for their products. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on September 12-14. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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China to Issue Online Car Hire Service Regulations – Source (English article)
Meituan in Urgent Need of Funds as Online Take-Out Dining Wars Continue (Chinese article)
Boeing (NYSE: BA) Plans to Finish Some 737 Jetliners in China: Report (English article)
Trina (NSYE: TSL) Plans IPO of `Growthco’ to Manage Solar Farm Developments (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on June 18. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Citic Securities (HKEx: 6030) Seeks $4.7 Bln in Share Sale; Temasek Among Buyers (English article)
Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) Announces Receipt of Proposal to Acquire the Company (PRNewswire)
Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), Foxconn in Talks to Invest $500 Mln in India’s Snapdeal (English article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Plans $500 Mln India Plant Amid Ban (English article)
Imax (NYSE: IMAX) Sets China Unit IPO Goal at $300 Mln (English article)
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on May 7. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Third Point’s Loeb Not Pushing For Yum (NYSE: YUM) To Split Off China Business (English article)
Qihoo (NYSE: QIHU), Coolpad Unveil QiKU As Brand For Smartphone JV (Chinese article)
Mobile Ridesharing App Dida Pinche Wins $100 Mln Series C Funding (English article)
Trina (NYSE: TSL) Building $160 Mln Manufacturing Facility In Thailand (English article)
Bottom line: Yingli appears to be in financial distress but will avoid defaulting on debt obligations coming due next week, while China’s broader solar panel sector is likely to face new anti-dumping tariffs in Europe later this year.
Yingli assures investors on bond payment
The solar panel sector has become quite a turbulent place these days, riding high one day on reports of major new plant construction, only to stumble the next on signs of conflict and financial distress. This kind of conflicting news reflects the fact that the industry is still in the midst of a major overhaul that could ultimately see a few more companies get closed down or purchased, leaving a smaller field of the biggest, best-run players to survive over the longer term.
The latest signs of distress are coming from Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), one of China’s largest players, which has just announced it has the necessary funds to pay off a bond that will mature next week. Some may see such an announcement as a sign of strength; but the fact that Yingli is taking the unusual step of making an announcement seems aimed at allaying market concerns that it might not make the payment. The other big distress sign is coming from reports that indicate Europe could soon re-launch an anti-dumping probe into Chinese solar panels, following complaints that the Chinese are violating an earlier agreement designed to avoid punitive import tariffs. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on April 28. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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iPhone Sales, China Boosts Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL); Shares Up Modestly (English article)
Lenovo (HKEx: 992) Eyes 100 Mln Cellphone Sales In New Fiscal Year – CEO (Chinese article)
Huawei CEO Says Chinese Cybersecurity Rules Could Backfire (English article)
Trina (NYSE: TSL) Signs Agreement In Hefei Zone for 300 MW DG Solar Power Plant (PRNewswire)
