Markets & Policy

Trina Solar goes private

The Chinese PV maker has completed its merger transaction and will now become a private company. Trading of Trina’s shares on the NYSE have been suspended pending de-listing.
By
Christian Roselund
Trina Solar CEO and chairman Jifan Gao has told reporters in China that the company will go private in China once NYSE delisting is complete. | Copyright: Trina Solar

Yesterday Trina Solar announced that it has completed the transaction that will allow it to become a private company. Trina has requested that trading of its shares be suspended on the New York Stock Exchange, pending the de-listing of the company in 90 days or less.

Under the acquisition by a consortium led by Trina Solar Chair and CEO Jifan Gao, Trina will compensate shareholders with $11.60 per share traded on NYSE, for an estimated total of $1.1 billion. The company will formally become part of private company Fortune Solar Holdings Ltd.

For several years Trina was the world’s largest PV module maker, until being edged out of the top stop by JinkoSolar in 2016. The company’s move can be seen in relation to the struggles of many publicly listed solar companies.

“2016 was really bad for solar stocks,” Mercom Capital CEO Raj Prabhu told pv magazine. “Funding becomes very difficult when the valuation of the company, especially a public company, is down.”

The press has speculated that Trina Solar will later re-list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange or another Asian exchange, which Prabhu says is a possibility. “It all depends on how they are valued,” he notes.

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