China wind power firm soars in stock market debut

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By Claire Zhang

SHANGHAI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - A spectacular stock market listing by China's biggest maker of wind power generating equipment on Wednesday suggested global warming was finally making itself felt among Chinese investors.

Shares in Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co (002202.SZ) soared 264 percent from their initial public offer price to close at 131.00 yuan in their first day of trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, far exceeding analysts' forecasts of a range of 90-100 yuan.

Smaller Chinese stocks routinely double in their debuts, and demand for Goldwind may have been boosted by a recent pull-back in the overall share market, which has made Chinese investors see IPOs as the safest path to quick profits.

But Goldwind's surge also indicated that after years in which the market focused on fast-growing banking and industrial stocks, clean energy and environmental protection were becoming important investment themes, analysts said.

"The renewable energy theme is getting more popular," said Yang Jun, an energy analyst at United Securities in Shenzhen, adding that Goldwind's success and the support of China's government for green energy could prompt more such firms to list.

The China-Belgium Direct Equity Investment Fund, run by Haitong-Fortis Private Equity Fund Management, a venture between China's Haitong Securities (600837.SS) and Belgium's Fortis Fund Management (FOR.BR), held 7.2 percent of Goldwind before the IPO and has undertaken to hold its shares for at least three years.

"An increasing number of power firms in China are seeking to break out of the traditional generating methods into clean and green ways," a spokesman for Haitong-Fortis said.

Goldwind's debut helped to boost other power-related shares in China on Wednesday, traders said. Shares in Datang Power (601991.SS)(0991.HK), a major generator which relies mainly on coal but is developing its wind power capacity, surged 8.55 percent to a two-month high of 18.79 yuan.

China insists that rich nations should bear much of the burden for tackling global warming in the short term, because of their historic responsibility for the problem.

But partly because of concern about its energy security, Beijing has been encouraging the development of wind power and other forms of clean energy.

China is set to overshoot a 5 gigawatt target set for wind generation installed capacity in 2010 after it hit 2.6 GW at the end of 2006, experts from the Global Wind Energy Council said earlier this year.

Many of China's firms in high technology and clean energy, such as New York-listed Suntech Power (STP.N), one of the world's biggest makers of solar power cells, have chosen to list overseas rather than in China in the hopes of finding more sympathetic investors abroad.

But the strong demand for Goldwind's shares could now encourage such firms to list domestically, some analysts said.

Goldwind, based in China's far western region of Xinjiang, raised 1.8 billion yuan ($245 million) by selling 10 percent of its expanded share capital in the IPO.

Oriental Securities estimated in a report that Goldwind's net profits might hit 868 million yuan next year, up from an estimated 630 million yuan this year, though it also said the stock would start to look overvalued above 120 yuan. ($1 = 7.34 yuan) (Reporting by Claire Zhang; Editing by Andrew Torchia)