What signal does the private placement of multiple energy-listed companies release?

Industry insiders analyze that it may be to seize the opportunities in the new energy track industry,and to increase the intensity of project construction with the help of market funds.

Yi Yuntong

On the evening of June 11,China Energy Construction released the latest A-share private placement plan,reducing the fundraising amount to no more than 9 billion yuan,which once again attracted market attention.

Under the "New National Nine Articles",the number and scale of A-share private placements have both shrunk.According to Wind data,as of June 12,only 77 listed companies have announced the completion of private placement plans within the year.

It is worth noting that among the few private placement companies at present,energy companies such as Sinopec and China Green Electricity have frequently appeared,and have contributed a larger scale of private placements.

Many market analysts have said that energy-listed companies are actively private placement,mainly to seize the opportunities in the new energy track industry,and to increase the intensity of project construction with the help of market funds.

China Energy Construction reduces private placement to 9 billion yuan

As early as February to March 2023,the private placement-related matters of China Energy Construction have been reviewed and passed by the shareholders' meeting.This adjustment is mainly due to the change in the fundraising amount and purpose.At present,the adjusted private placement plan has been passed by the shareholders' meeting,and it still needs to be reviewed by the Shanghai Stock Exchange and approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for registration.

In the latest plan,China Energy Construction has reduced the previous fundraising total (including issuance costs) from "no more than 14.85 billion yuan (including 14.85 billion yuan)" to "no more than 9 billion yuan (including 9 billion yuan)",and the use of funds has been reduced from the original 6 items to 4 items,removing the Gansu Qingyang "East Number West Calculation" source network load storage integrated wisdom zero-carbon big data industry park demonstration project and supplementary working capital.According to the announcement,the net proceeds from the adjusted fundraising will be used for the China Energy Construction Hami "photo-thermal storage" multi-energy complementary integrated green electricity demonstration project,the China Energy Construction Group Zhejiang Electric Power Construction Co.,Ltd.solar thermal + photovoltaic integrated project,the Hubei Yingcheng 300MW class compressed air energy storage power station demonstration project,and the construction of wind power projects in Bash and Jandakul,Uzbekistan.The first two items are proposed to use the highest amount,both at 3 billion yuan.

The company stated that since 2023,China Energy Construction has added 20.097 million kilowatts of new wind and photovoltaic new energy development indicators.Its civil engineering construction industry is capital-intensive,and project construction relies on a large amount of capital investment.The consolidated asset-liability ratio at the end of 2023 was 75.96%,the current ratio was 1.02,and the quick ratio was 0.86.The asset-liability ratio is at a relatively high level.This issuance will help the company to replenish funds,further optimize the financial structure,and reduce financial leverage.

With the gradual availability of funds raised in the A-share market,there is no doubt that the total assets and net assets of China Energy Construction will correspondingly increase.However,it should be noted that since the investment projects funded by the raised capital will not generate benefits in the short term,this issuance may lead to a decrease in the company's return on equity,and there is a possibility that the earnings per share will be diluted.

To protect the interests of investors,China Energy Construction announced in the disclosure that it will compensate for the potential dilution of immediate returns by improving the profit distribution policy and strengthening the investor return mechanism.

In terms of market performance,on June 12,China Energy Construction fell by 0.47%,closing at 2.13 yuan per share,with a total market value of 76.4 billion yuan,and the net outflow of main funds for the day was 87.06 million yuan.

Several energy companies have completed private placements.

Looking at the overall A-share market,the issuance of the "New National Nine Articles" has promoted a series of changes in the refinancing market,and the sharp reduction in private placements is one of them.According to Wind data statistics,since 2024,a total of 77 listed companies have completed private placement plans,raising a total of 89.828 billion yuan.The number and scale have respectively decreased by 45.39% and 228.11% compared to the same period in 2023.The wave of private placement terminations has been brewing since April,with about 60 listed companies announcing the termination of their private placement plans.

"At present,the private placements of listed companies show a trend of diversification,and even polarization: on the one hand,companies that cross borders and have declining performance collectively 'exit'; on the other hand,the issuance of companies with strong national strategic significance,representing future technology trends,and with strong strength,such as energy companies,is still expected by the market." Xu Weihong,the chief consultant of China Securities Jiaotong Fund,told China Energy Media.

The reporter found through sorting out that among the 77 listed companies that completed the private placement plan within the year,the number of companies from basic chemical industry was the largest,reaching 11; companies from petroleum and petrochemical,and power equipment raised the most funds,respectively reaching 13.928 billion yuan and 9.843 billion yuan.Among them,the state-owned energy company Sinopec raised the most funds,reaching 12 billion yuan,which is the only company in the two markets to break through the 10 billion yuan mark in private placement fundraising; at the same time,the total fundraising of China Green Power and Sichuan Energy Power also exceeded two digits,respectively raising 1.8 billion yuan and 2.265 billion yuan.

In terms of the purpose of the issuance,the private placements of energy companies are mainly for the layout of the new energy industry.Sinopec once announced that in order to seize the development opportunities of the new material industry,all the raised funds will be used for the construction of projects in the fields of LNG,hydrogen energy,and other clean energy,as well as high value-added materials such as POE,EVA,and ABS.China Green Power also stated that the funds raised will mainly be used for photovoltaic and wind power projects in Qinghai.At the policy level,recently,with the issuance of the National Energy Administration's "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Absorption of New Energy and Ensuring the High-Quality Development of New Energy," the policy for the absorption of new energy has been further strengthened.Affected by the positive news,sectors such as green electricity,photovoltaics,and energy storage have been on the rise in the secondary market for several days,and the new energy track continues to be hot.

Ding Zhenyu,a senior investment consultant at Ju Feng Investment Consulting,analyzed that in the future,the new energy track will continue to welcome new development opportunities.By entering through a private placement,not only can one seize the opportunities of industrial development,but there is also a chance to achieve mergers and acquisitions or introduce strategic investors.

A top securities analyst believes that the purpose of the private placement reflects the company's significant direction of capital expenditure,which to some extent can also reflect the overall capital expenditure trends of the industry."If the private placement price is higher than the market price,it may better demonstrate the company's confidence in the industry's good prosperity and the expectation that it will continue."