FAST NEWS: GCL New Energy Plunges with 20% Discount on Share Placement

The latest: GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd. (0451.HK), a subsidiary of GCL Technology Holdings Ltd. (3800.HK), announced on Thursday that it will place 2,275 million shares on a top-up placement basis, representing approximately 9.74% of the enlarged issued share capital, to not less than six independent places. Upon completion of the transaction, GCL Technology’s shareholding will be diluted from 49.24% to 44.44%.

Looking up: The net proceeds from the placement will be HK$310 million ($39.8 million), of which 90% will be used to support the cost relating to the investment, research and development of natural gas, liquid natural gas and integrated energy project management business and to develop the O&M services for other energy sectors, and 10% will be used as general working capital.

Take Note: The price of GCL New Energy’s share placement is HK$0.138, a discount of 19.8% from the previous day’s closing price of HK$0.172, which means that the company needs to offer a substantial discount on the placement price in order to attract investors to participate.

Digging Deeper: GCL New Energy is a company that develops, constructs, operates and manages solar power plants. Its parent company, GCL Technology, is one of the world’s top manufacturers of polysilicon, a key component in the manufacture of solar panels, which are becoming increasingly competitive with traditional coal and natural gas-based power generation. However, GCL Technology defaulted a few years ago due to its heavy debt burden, but fortunately, the sharp rise in polysilicon prices helped the company rebound strongly and turn a loss into a profit of 5.08 billion yuan last year.

Market Reaction: GCL New Energy reached a low of HK$0.132 on Thursday, falling below the HK$0.138 allotment price, and closed at HK$0.137 at noon, a big drop of 20.3% and close to the low of the past 52 weeks. GCL Technology was 1.7% softer to HK$3.56.

Translation by Jony Ho

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