China Datang Corp., the nation’s second-largest power producer, is seeking a $1 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong for its renewable energy unit, according to two people familiar with the plan.
China Datang Corp. Renewable Power Co. has applied to list its shares on Hong Kong’s stock exchange and a hearing is expected this month, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private. The unit may list its shares in late December, one of the people said. Telephone calls to the office of China Datang President Zhai Ruoyu outside normal business hours weren’t answered.
Credit Suisse Group AG, UBS AG of Zurich, and New York- based JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among the banks managing the sale for China Datang, the state-owned company based in Beijing, the people said. Adam Harper, a spokesman for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, declined to comment, as did UBS’s Chris Cockerill and Marie Cheung at JPMorgan.
The IPO would add to the record $40.6 billion that companies have raised through initial offerings in Hong Kong this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg that excludes shares from overallotment options. Almost 60 percent of the sales have come from mainland Chinese companies, the data show.
China, the world’s largest power producer, plans to require power-network companies to buy a portion of electricity supplies from renewable energy sources, according to an Oct. 18 statement on the nation’s draft industrial development for 2011-2015. Renewable energy is one of seven “strategic” emerging industries that China aims to promote in the next five years.
The government intends to favor developers of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in its electricity pricing system, according to a statement released by the National Development and Reform Commission on Oct. 21.
