From Bloomberg:
Mystery Property Tycoon Makes $533 Million Bet on Solar
A Hong Kong real-estate tycoon has spent the past year accumulating stakes in failing solar companies, piecing together what may become the biggest collection of photovoltaic factories in the world.
Zheng Jianming, also known in Cantonese as Cheng Kin Ming, has spent or pledged about $533 million to buy assets that at their peak were worth almost $20 billion, according to regulatory filings in the U.S. and Hong Kong, where he has a home and office.
The transactions, if completed, would transform Zheng, a newcomer to the solar industry, into one of its most powerful leaders. Another Zheng solar investment in 2012, a 30 percent stake in Shunfeng Photovoltaic International Ltd. (1165), has surged more than 2,900 percent and is now worth more than $745 million.
“He’s a bit mysterious and not really well documented in the industry,” said Andrew Klump, managing director at the Shanghai-based consulting company Clean Energy Associates. “If he wanted to be more high-profile he would be. He’s probably going to continue to stay under the radar.”
Zheng declined to comment when contacted at home and through companies he owns, Faithsmart Ltd. and Fulai Investments Ltd. He didn’t respond to questions left in writing at his office and home in Hong Kong. Apple Daily said in December that he’s 48, and his age couldn’t be verified in company records.
Global Oversupply
Klump has never met Zheng and says he knows little of the man. Though he’s identified on press releases announcing his solar acquisitions, almost a dozen solar-industry analysts on three continents said they knew nothing beyond the name when contacted by Bloomberg.
Zheng’s deals would help China consolidate factories responsible for more than half the world’s panels. The solar industry is emerging from a two-year slump that was triggered in part by expanding production capacity among Chinese suppliers. The oversupply of panels ate into margins and eroded profits, and helped push some companies into bankruptcy.
The recovery is driven mainly by increasing demand that’s soaking up the overcapacity. Installations in China alone reached 12 gigawatts last year as the country became the biggest solar market, and may exceed that in 2014. Global installations this year may increase 27 percent from 2013 to 49 gigawatts, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Solar Holdings
Through various holding companies, Zheng owns 21.6 percent of LDK Solar Co. (LDK), the second-biggest supplier of PV wafers in 2012. He also owns 30 percent of the Hong Kong-based panel maker Shunfeng, which is seeking to buy Wuxi Suntech. That’s the main unit of what was the world’s biggest panel producer until it was surpassed by Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co. (YGE) in 2012. Suntech shareholders are scheduled to meet April 7 to vote on the deal....MUCH MORE
