LongiTech to raise $36.5 million in share placement

The Chinese PV developer and cloud-based energy solutions provider will use roughly 25% of the net proceeds to fund the development of its solar business, particularly its product and service offerings in the residential PV sector. The group — based in Gaobeidian, Hebei province — primarily builds distributed-generation solar projects.

It will use about 65% of the proceeds to expand its smart energy business, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The remaining 10% will be used to shore up its working capital.

The company’s board has a approved its plan to issue nearly 145.7 million shares. Following the completion of the placement, the newly issued shares will represent about 15.85% of its total issued shares.

LongiTech will issue the shares to between six and 10 unspecified institutional and retail investors at a discount of roughly 19.6% to the average closing price of roughly HK$2.464 per share for the five straight trading days leading up to September 14. Its shares closed at HK$2.38 at the end of trading on Friday, September 15.

Last October, the company raised HK$204 million in a share placement. It used the net proceeds to build distributed-generation PV projects and expand its smart energy cloud platform.

Last week, it recorded a profit of CNY 45.76 million ($7 million) for the first six months of 2017,  up 8.5% on the year. Revenue slid 4.6% year on year to CNY 286.1 million. Its core solar and smart energy operations accounted for CNY 178.1 million of total revenue, up significantly from CNY 11.8 million in the first half of 2016.