canb888

Confusion with China's Solar Subsidy

Look at other points:
1. Eric quoted someone saying:"the 20 RMB/watt subsidy program is specifically for BIPV installations ...". The official policy says: "Priority will be given to building-integrated PV applications", nowhere can I find "specifically for BIPV...". "Priority" became "specifically" to suit the author's opinion. "Specifically" is close to "only" that he used in my earlier comment. Eric already has his conclusion before looking at the documents/facts.

2. Eric quoted again someone saying: "the program is focused on off-grid installations"
while the Official Policy says: "Priority will be given to grid-connected building PV applications"

If Eric used the same logic as in the BIPV I pointed out earlier, he should be saying "only" support grid-connected.. applications". Instead he is quoting exactly the opposite.

How more biased can someone be?

Confusion with China's Solar Subsidy

This is how the facts are twisted by Eric the China Solar basher:
Ministry of Finance said: "Priority will be given to building-integrated PV applications"
This writer selectively quoted someone who said:
"the program only covered what are known as “building integrated photovoltaic panels,” or BIPVs". Note the huge difference in the words "Priority" vs. "Only".

Question: Who do we trust, the Chinese Ministry of Finance who set the policy or someone who does not read Chinese and change the spirit of the new "interim measure" on solar incentives in China? Need I say more? Solars are moving up in a big way, don't fight the trend.

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

Thanks for disclosing, much appreciated.


On Jan 12 06:50 PM Ucilia Wang wrote:

> I have no position on LDK, canb888.

Chinese Government Offers Incentive for Solar Mergers

Gosh! Promoting rumour is not going to give you any credibility Ucilia. Digitime did not quote any source maybe because they have none, in which case this is just a rumour. I hope you think big and be creative, and not just follow others. This is from an older guy who has "been there done that". Think BIG for your own good. Be creative to be someone. Disclosure: I own many solars including all those named here except KWT.

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

I know Ucilia is reading these comments. I hope she is open to my question: are you short LDK?

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

By the way, Zacks disclosed having no position on LDK at the end of the fairly positive article. I can't find any position disclosure by Ucilia in her fairly negative article. My question to Ucilia: are you short LDK??? I hope she will answer because I don't think my qustion is not fair.

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

Exact same news story but different attitude towards LDK thus different conclusion, link: seekingalpha.com/artic...

LDK Solar: When Bad News Is Good

Most encouraging is "... by the end of the day, LDK was actually trading higher! Investors were able to shrug off the bad news"... A buy signal based on my past experience.

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

No problem with your revised wording by adding in "THAN PREVIOUSLY GUIDED". Being a long, I am mad at them too for missing their Novemebr guidance just like you but I expect commentators to be honest in their choice of words - because it is very important. Maybe some people do it unconsciously - some analysts/writers are unconsciously incompetent - the lowest form and the real hopeless form of incompetence. I believe LDK, being the largest and lowest-cost producer of wafers, will recover and will be a winner in the long run.

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

Wafer shipment in 2009 will be higher than 2008. How did that become "lower this year". People compare year to year. This year is 2009. Compare that to last year which is 2008. Still think "lower this year"?

LDK Solar Lowers Sales Outlook, Delays Factory Plan

Your statement that: "LDK expects ... lower wafer shipment this year." is clearly false but it also clearly shows your sentiment against the company, i.e., you are very biased as a reporter/comentator. I really prefer to read objective, independent and preofessional comments.

First Solar and Solarfun May Defy Short-Term Weakness in Solar Sector

You say: "China's exports will be largely wiped out if overseas demand diminishes in the coming years". I don't think you know what you are talking about if you are serious about that statement. Where would Walmart source their products if China stops exporting? How many countries have you been to lately and did you notice how pervasive Made in China products are even in Asia/Africa? Who will replace those products that provide the best price/value ratios? Wiping out China's export is not easily achievable even if you wish and pray for it to happen. Slowdown from recent double digit growth yes, but that will still be growth of say 7% +/-, not a reduction of GDP, not a wipe out. BTW, it is obvious that China will dominate production of PV solar products, nothing would likely stop that from happenning. The best advice would be finding the winners among the Chinese solar names and invest in them rather than bashing them with all types of excuses and analogies.

About the stimulus package, it is new investment that will have a huge multiplier effect on the economy. This is in contrast to the US bailout - which does not add too much new investment but use billions to correct past errors. Bailout barely create any growth if at all. New investment does. Thats' a world of difference when looking at the multi-billion dollar US bailout vs China's $580B stimulus plan. Final note: one dollar buys much more in China than in the US, not only when it comes to labor hours but also on other productive factors. Therefore, the $580B in China will definitely have a much larger impact than the same dollars in the US. You can't always measure things in terms of what it means in the USA. Think international.

LDK Wants $200M More for Manufacturing

Here is the full article for all to compare:
LDK Solar pulls off $200 million follow-on
By Anette Jönsson | 22 September 2008

The deal is launched before the opening of US trading on Friday and prices at a 4.55% discount to the previous day's close.

In a surprising move, coming right at the end of one of the most volatile and hectic weeks in recent Wall Street history, LDK Solar succeeded in raising $200.4 million through a follow-on offering. The Chinese solar wafer manufacturer grabbed a window that opened up after its share price rebounded 16% from Monday’s low amid a recovery in the broader market sentiment and the gamble paid off. Demand was even strong enough to allow the deal to be upsized by 26%.

The company initially offered 3.8 million American depositary shares at a 2% to 7% discount to Thursday’s close of $43.74. It ended up selling 4.8 million ADS – all backed by primary common shares – at a price of $41.75, or a 4.55% discount. At the final size, the offering accounted for about 4.5% of the existing share capital.

The deal was launched an hour before the US market opened on Friday and was covered in 20 minutes. However, the lead managers weren’t able to close the books until about 30 minutes into the trading session as they had to wait for the necessary regulatory approvals to come through, which meant the price had to be fixed while the stock was moving. But investors stuck with the deal and surprisingly didn’t show much price sensitivity. A source said the price could have been fixed at the top, although that might have been a bit too provocative in light of the panic sell-off in US markets earlier in the week.

The order book was said to have included about 40 accounts and comprised existing investors as well as solar power specialists and those who were chasing liquidity. Given the timing of the deal (kick-off was at 8.30pm Hong Kong time), the buyers were predominantly US-based, but with some interest from Europe and Asia.

LDK’s share price fell 5.3% to $41.44 in Friday’s trading and while this meant it closed below the placement price, the share price did recover from an intraday low of $39.15, suggesting that investors were still prepared to support the stock. The fact that the company was raising money primarily to fund capacity expansion likely worked in its favour here. LDK did underperform the market though, with most other solar power plays gaining ground and the Dow Jones index rallying 3.4%, following a 3.9% gain on Thursday.

The initial fall in the company’s share price may have been a reaction to the unusual way in which the shares were sold. US follow-ons are typically marketed during at least one, and often several, trading sessions against a moving share price. Investors may also have been surprised by the fact that the deal was launched on a Friday. According to the source, this is the first SEC-registered block trade to be done on a Friday morning ever.

This unusual approach brings further evidence that a bit of innovation, and indeed a lot of flexibility, may be needed to get deals out the door in the current environment which continues to be marked by violent day-to-day swings in global stock markets. The acute confidence crisis that had plagued the market for about a week-and-a-half and ultimately forced Lehman Brothers to file for bankruptcy protection, Merrill Lynch to agree to sell itself to Bank of America and insurer AIG to accept a costly government loan facility, appeared to have eased off on Thursday and Friday in response to the US government’s proposed $700 billion rescue package, but there is still no telling how long the current rebound will last. Recently no rally has lasted more than a couple of days, adding to the urgency to grab the window when it appears.

LDK mandated Goldman Sachs, J.P.Morgan and UBS for a capital raising exercise some time ago, and the first few filings on Friday morning suggested that the three banks would all be involved in the deal. However, when it was launched, J.P.Morgan was no longer on the ticket. No explanation was given, but it is possible that the bank didn’t feel comfortable to support a deal at such short notice. Goldman and UBS acted as joint bookrunners.

LDK said it would use 60% of the proceeds towards the ongoing construction of a polysilicon manufacturing plant, which was begun in August 2007 and marks its first move upstream in the value chain. Polysilicon, which is used as a raw material in solar wafers, has been in short supply for the past couple of years and by starting to produce its own, LDK will go some way towards securing its future needs. It expects to have an aggregate installed annual production capacity of approximately 7,000 tonnes of polysilicon by the end of 2008 – allowing it to produce 100 to 350 tonnes of polysilicon this year, and 16,000 tonnes by the end of 2009. Aside from these efforts to produce its own raw material, LDK believes it has enough inventory and commitments from suppliers to satisfy substantially all of its estimated requirements through 2008.

Another 30% of the proceeds will go towards the expansion of its production capacity of multicrystalline wafers from 880MW as of June 30 to 1,100MW by the end of this year and approximately 2,000MW by the end of 2009. It will also begin commercial production of monocrystalline wafers in the fourth quarter this year and expect to reach an annual capacity of 200MW by the end of 2009. Monocrystalline wafers have a higher efficiency than their multicrystalline equivalents, but cost more to produce.

LDK has experienced strong earnings growth since it made its first commercial wafer sale in April 2006 and in the six months to June, its bottom line improved by 274% year-on-year to $199.4 million. The share price remains volatile though and, while it has recovered from a 2008 low just below $20 in March, it is still down 40% from a year ago. The 16% bounce on Tuesday through Thursday last week came on the back of a 7.5% drop on Monday.

The successful outcome of this deal may improve the chances for solar cell manufacturer Gintech Energy Corp to complete its planned sale of about $150 million worth of global depositary receipts. The Taiwan-listed company set off on a nine-day roadshow on Wednesday last week and if the response is positive, it will conduct a one-day bookbuilding at the end of it. ABN AMRO and UBS are the joint bookrunners.


Copyright FinanceAsia.com Ltd., a subsidiary of Haymarket Media Ltd

It's like night and day, completely different.

LDK Wants $200M More for Manufacturing

Jennifer, ypou don't seem to be as excited as the New York Times who called this secondary offering a mini-coup: "LDK Solar, a Chinese solar wafer manufacturer, pulled off a mini-coup Friday by succeeding in raising $200.4 million through a follow-on offering that came at the end of one of the most volatile weeks in Wall Street history." Comparing what you wrote with that article in NYT and FinanceAsia, makes you look unfortunately petty. Think big if you want to be successful.

As Timminco Shares Go Up, LDK Deal Raises Questions

I am so disappointed with Greentechmedia for:
1. Making a very positive news for LDK look like it is negative, look at the tilte of this article - need I say more?
2. Not having the facts straight, i.e., that this is related to a previously announced 5GW deal. No, the previous 6GW deal stands and there is a NEW MOU for a 5GW deal attached to this new contract.