Two Chinese solar energy companies, LDK Solar Co Ltd and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co Ltd, are set to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) early next month, the latest in a string of solar companies to go public.

LDK, the larger of the two, plans to raise more than US$400 million, which would be the largest US IPO of a Chinese mainland company since 2005.

It applied to offer about 17.4 million in American depositary shares at an estimated price range of US$25 to US$27 per share, according to the prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Yingli has filed a prospectus to raise about US$350 million by issuing 29 million in American deposit shares at between US$11 and US$13 per share.

The two offerings come on the heels of China Sunergy Co Ltd's debut on NASDAQ Stock Market on May 17. China Sunergy's stock rose 51 percent over its IPO price of US$11 per share to close at US$16.56 on its first trading day, reflecting investor optimism in the solar energy industry.

LDK, which is in the middle of a global road show, is slated to list on the NYSE on June 1 with the ticker LDK.

Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and Piper Jaffray, among others, serve as underwriters.

Yingli is set to list shares on the NYSE in early June under the symbol YGE.

Goldman Sachs, UBS, Piper Jaffray and CIBC World Markets are the co-lead underwriters.

"LDK's upper position in the solar power industry and its rich customer base are what have attracted investors," Ye Dong, president of Tsing Capital, told China Daily.

Tsing Capital, a Chinese venture capital fund focusing on alternative energy investment, had earlier invested US$5 million in LDK and US$3 million in China Sunergy.

LDK was backed by a host of private equity investors, including funds managed at CDH Venture Partners, China Renaissance Capital Investment, Natexis Private Equity Asia, JAFCO Asia, Roosevelt Investment Group and Tsing Capital. The company has benefited from several rounds of investments of an aggregate US$62.55 million last year.

LDK's Chairman and CEO Peng Xiaofeng, 31, owns an 83 percent stake in the company.

Based in east China's Jiangxi Province, LDK Solar makes multicrystalline solar wafers, which are thin sheets of crystalline silicon material used to make solar cells.

The solar power equipment manufacturer claims to be the biggest multicrystalline wafer producer in Asia. It plans to increase its annual production to 800 megawatts (MW) by 2008, up from the current 215 MW, according to the company prospectus.

(China Daily May 30, 2007)