Energy

Trina Solar Gets Offer to Go Private

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Solar PV module maker Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) has received an offer from its founder/CEO and a private equity firm to purchase all the shares that the two don’t already own at a price of $0.232 per share in cash or $11.60 in cash per American depositary shares (ADS). One ADS represents 50 ordinary shares. The offer represents a premium of 21.5% to the closing price on Friday and a premium of 20.2% above the average closing price over the past 90 trading days.

The offer from founder and CEO Jifan Guo and an investment subsidiary of Industrial Bank made the non-binding offer on Saturday. The board of directors has formed a special committee to consider the proposal.

According to the proposal, the buyers intend to form an acquisition vehicle that would acquire Trina Solar and then the two would merge. The buyers intend to finance the deal with a combination of debt and equity but did not offer specific details. Industrial Bank “has indicated that it is highly confident in its ability to underwrite this financing.”


The offer values Trina Solar at around $985 million. The company’s estimated earnings per ADS for 2015 have dropped from $1.18 to $0.63 in the past 90 days. Trina Solar had performed well until the third quarter, when the company missed on earnings, though it did beat revenue estimates.

ADSs traded up about 10.5% on Monday morning, at $10.55 in a 52-week range of $7.15 to 13.33.

 

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