BYD Automaker Plans Stock Listing

Aug. 23, 2010
Goal is to raise $419 million to finance battery, vehicle and auto parts projects

Chinese battery and auto maker BYD said on August 23 that it hoped to list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in the second half of the year, after delaying earlier plans for a mainland listing.

Last month, the Hong Kong-listed company said it was asking for shareholder approval to push back the flotation because of weakness in the stock market.

BYD, part owned by a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Group, said investors were scheduled to vote on the extension on August 30.

The company has said it plans to offer up to 100 million A shares in the southern city of Shenzhen to raise 2.85 billion yuan (US$419 million.)

The proceeds will finance battery, vehicle and auto parts projects.

BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said the company was on track to launch its electric car in the U.S. market later this year, while the firm is also studying launching home-appliance products.

The company reported first-half net profit had more than doubled to 2.42 billion yuan, up from 1.18 billion yuan a year earlier, aided by Beijing's measures to boost car sales.

However, BYD added that it expected China's domestic automobile industry "to keep modest growth in the future."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010

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