July 25 (NBD) -- Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer Qinhuangdao Tianye Tolian Heavy Industry Co., Ltd (Tianye Tolian, 002459.SZ) announced Tuesday that it has signed an intention agreement to buy a 100 percent stake in photovoltaic (PV) module maker JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd (JA Solar) via stock issue.

After the deal is closed, Jin Baofang, the actual controller of JA Solar, will replace He Zhiping as the actual controller of Tianye Tolian as well. The restructuring constitutes back-door listing, the equipment maker said in a filing.

Founded in 2005, JA Solar is a global manufacturer of high-performance PV products, with a business portfolio including wafers, cells, modules and PV power station. In 2017, the company garnered 19.7 billion yuan (2.9 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue.

It is noted that the energy company got listed on the Nasdaq as early as 2007 under the ticker of JASO, but completed privatization last Tuesday.

Industry expert Zhao Yuwen told NBD in an interview that JA Solar is busy preparing to go back to A-share market via back-door listing only a few days after its privatization from the U.S. stock market, which is self-evident how attractive the domestic stock market is for PV firms.

China is becoming the world largest PV market where the listed PV enterprises would get better chance to thrive. LONGi Green Energy Technology Co Ltd (601012.SH), for example, is so far the most profitable PV company in China. In 2017, the company took in 16.4 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue with net profit contributable to shareholders being 3.56 billion yuan (523.2 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year growth of 130.38 percent.

Except for JA Solar, a string of PV companies have delisted from the U.S. stock market, for instance, Canadian Solar Inc (NASDAQ:CSIQ), Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL), LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK), and China Sunergy (NASDAQ:CSUN), etc.

Asked about the reasons behind delisting, industry insider Lian Rui explained to NBD that the U.S. has imposed heavy anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese PV companies. Moreover, those firms are valued lower than their counterparts in the A-share market, which make it hard for them to raise funds, Lian added.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn