Chinese solar panel manufacturer JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. is set to drop its American stock listing after shareholders approved a takeover proposal from an investor group led by the company's executive chairman and CEO, Baofang Jin.
Jin has been trying to buy the company since at least June 2015, but the effort languished as the chief executive struggled to raise money for a deal, according to public comments by company officials. In November 2017, JA Solar said it agreed to a buyout with an implied equity value of $362.1 million after Jin, along with three JA Solar shareholders and a British Virgin Islands-based company of which Jin is the sole director, arranged a loan for $160 million from CSI Finance Ltd. and Credit Suisse AG, among other lenders. Acting on a recommendation from the company's board of directors, JA Solar shareholders approved the deal by a wide margin March 12.
Under the all-cash transaction, the buyers will pay $7.55 per American depositary share. JA Solar shares were down slightly at $7.38 in morning trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange March 12.
Jin, a local government official in China, according to S&P Capital IQ, is also the chairman and CEO of Jinglong Industry and Commerce Group Co. Ltd., a private company in China that manufactures solar cells.
The JA Solar deal is part of a wave of privatizations and delistings by some of the world's top solar equipment manufacturers. Having achieved a dominant position in the global solar market, Chinese manufacturers may feel they no longer need to subject themselves to investor scrutiny, analysts say.
In December 2017, Canadian Solar Inc. founder and CEO Xiaohua "Shawn" Qu proposed buying out the manufacturer and power plant developer, which is based in Ontario but manufactures much of its hardware through Chinese subsidiaries. Qu's offer followed the March 2017 privatization of Trina Solar Ltd. and a September 2017 deal that transferred ReneSola Ltd.'s manufacturing operations to the company's chairman and CEO, Xianshou Li.
"The U.S. is no longer very important for Chinese players, who are busy in their domestic market," Jenny Chase, manager of Bloomberg New Energy Finance's Solar Insight team, said after Qu's offer for Canadian Solar was announced.
JA Solar shipped 5,200 MW of solar power equipment in 2016. The company has not yet reported 2017 operating or financial results.
