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SFCE Media Scan for May 25, 2015
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United PV may lend stricken Yingli a hand
May 25, 2015 | Recharge News
By Karl-Erik Stromsta
United Photovoltaics, the fast-growing Chinese downstream PV player with ties to Beijing, may hand a lifeline to Yingli to help it through its financial difficulties. -
China’s thirst for solar projects can save Yingli, says IHS
May 25, 2015 | PV Tech
By John Parnell
Demand for solar in China could help secure Yingli Solar’s financial future, according to a research note by IHS. -
GSR, Temasek exit Chinese LED lighting firm Lattice Power
May 25, 2015 | Deal Street Asia
Hong Kong-listed Shunfeng International Clean Energy has reached a deal to buy a controlling stake in Chinese LED lighting producer Lattice Power, according to a securities filing.
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United PV may lend stricken Yingli a hand
May 25, 2015 | Recharge News
By Karl-Erik Stromsta
Yingli, the world’s largest supplier of PV modules until last year, has had a brutal week, with its share price down more than 30% even after a mid-week rally, in response to its acknowledgement that it may struggle to remain solvent given its large debt pile.
Following the beating its shares took on Tuesday, Yingli confirmed it is looking for strategic investors, although it has no intention of being acquired outright.
On Thursday, United PV chief executive Alan Li told Bloomberg his company is looking at ways to help Yingli “pull through”. The two companies are business partners, with United PV buying modules and finished projects from Yingli, which like many of its peers is diversifying into development.
Many in the global solar industry are watching Yingli’s fate closely to see whether Beijing will allow another Chinese solar champion to collapse. Most of the relevant bits of Suntech were eventually acquired by Shunfeng, another Chinese company with big downstream ambitions for solar.
To the extent Beijing is willing to intervene in the market through state-owned enterprises and banks, it has a tricky line to walk. By propping up Yingli, it would in effect harm other healthier Chinese PV companies, such as Trina, which overtook Yingli to become the world’s largest module supplier last year.
Trina, for one, has welcomed further consolidation in the market.
http://www.rechargenews.com/solar/1400753/united-pv-may-lend-stricken-yingli-a-hand
PV Magazine (German): http://www.pv-magazine.de/nachrichten/details/beitrag/united-pv-will-yingli-aus-der-schuldenfalle-retten_100019276/
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China’s thirst for solar projects can save Yingli, says IHS
May 25, 2015 | PV Tech
By John Parnell
Demand for solar in China could help secure Yingli Solar’s financial future, according to a research note by IHS.
The consultancy noted that Yingli’s poor balance sheet may have hindered its ability to source competitively priced financing for its downstream push but that rising demand in China would assist its efforts. Beijing has set a goal of installing 17.8GW this year compared to around 10GW in 2014.
Yingli warned of doubts over its ability to continue as “a going concern” in its annual report at the end of last week, a risk later downplayed by executives who said it was their responsibility to flag up potential threats that breached a certain threshold of probability. IHS noted that its ill-fated decision to enter the polysilicon market had left it hobbled with hefty interest payments.
“The bad timing of its entry into polysilicon manufacturing greatly contributes to the poor condition of its balance sheet today,” said IHS.
“Whilst Yingli has highlighted a number of significant risks to its ongoing business (largely as a result of decisions made in 2010-11), its strategy to move further downstream could reverse its fortunes particularly as the solar industry recovers further in 2015 and demand remains high in its domestic market,” the IHS note said.
Yingli has connected 261MW of projects leaving it behind its main rivals. Trina Solar expects to connect 700-750MW of projects to the grid this year. With a 1.6GW pipeline in China and a 300MW pipeline overseas, the potential for Yingli to improve its position is clear. It’s path to financing those projects is perhaps less so.
Chinese state-owned solar investor United PV has said it would look to ensure Yingli "pulled through".
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/chinas_thirst_for_solar_projects_can_save_yingli_says_ihs
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GSR, Temasek exit Chinese LED lighting firm Lattice Power
May 25, 2015 | Deal Street Asia
Hong Kong-listed Shunfeng International Clean Energy has reached a deal to buy a controlling stake in Chinese LED lighting producer Lattice Power, according to a securities filing.
The deal will see several existing investors in Lattice Power – including Singapore state-fund Temasek Holdings and US private equity firm Oak Investment Partners – making an exit.
Shunfeng International Clean Energy will pay $263 million for a 59 per cent stake in Lattice Power. Other investors who are part of the sellers’ group include, an entity affiliated with Crescent HydePark, GO Scale Capital, which is an investment fund sponsored by GSR Ventures, Mayfield Fund, as well as GSR Ventures, according to a report in China Money Network.
“Shunfeng International will issue 392 million newly issued shares at HK$5.20 per share to the sellers. The new shares represents approximately 12.73 per cent of the existing share capital of the company, and 11.29 per cent of the enlarged share capital,” the report in China Money Network added.
But the filing does not indicate how much stake each of the sellers will be selling as part of this deal.
Temasek had invested in the company when it had raised a series B round of $40 million in 2007. The other investors in that round were AsiaVest Partners, Mayfield Fund and KPCB China Management.
Post that, Lattice Power raised two more rounds, the latest being an $80 million Series D financing last year, led by Asia Pacific Resources Development Investment.
In 2010, in a Series C round, it had raised $55 million from GSR Ventures, the International Finance Corporation, HydePark and AJIA Partners.
The company was launched in 2006 and shortly afterward, it had it got its first investment, and the $10 million Series A financing round witnessed participation from GSR Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and AsiaVest Partners.
http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/gsr-temasek-exit-chinese-led-lighting-firm-lattice-power-6847/
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