Hong Kong’s market watchdog yesterday said it is investigating Beijing-based solar energy firm Hanergy Thin Film Power Group (HTF, 漢能薄膜發電集團), which suspended trading on Wednesday last week after its share price plunged by 47 percent.
HTF shares had surged more than sixfold in the past year, making it the world’s largest solar power company by market value, but prompting questions over its valuation and revenue sources.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) had previously refused to comment on whether an investigation into Hanergy was underway.
“The SFC wishes to clarify that a formal investigation into the affairs of Hanergy Thin Power Group ... has been active and is continuing,” the commission said in a statement yesterday.
The commission said it was making the statement “given the public interest following reports denying such measures have been taken.”
Hanergy founder and chairman Li Hejun (李河君) earlier yesterday told Xinhua news agency that the company was not under investigation from regulators.
The SFC gave no details on the investigation and said it would not comment further.
UNCONVENTIONAL SALES
A January report by the Financial Times said that the Hanergy Group made its fortune largely through unconventional sales between HTF, its listed subsidiary and itself.
Prior to its plunge, Hanergy Thin Film’s market value was at one point more than HK$300 billion (US$38.7 billion), but the fall in the share price would shave off HK$144.3 billion, Bloomberg said.
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Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day