Chinese supplier of wind power equipment plans IPO

HONG KONG, CHINA - China High-Speed Transmission Equipment Group, the nation's largest maker of gears for windmills, is seeking as much as 2.12 billion Hong Kong dollars in an initial public offering, two people with knowledge of the sale said.

The company plans to sell 300 million new shares, a 25 percent stake, in Hong Kong at 5.38 dollars to 7.08 dollars apiece, said the people, who declined to be identified because the details are not public.

At the higher valuation, the sale would reap $271 million.

Chinese makers of equipment to generate wind and solar power are selling shares to finance expansion as the government invests more in renewable energy.

China Energy Conservation Investment, a state-run company that is building a 200-megawatt wind farm, said in April that it planned an IPO.

China is encouraging wind power to reduce pollution and help overcome energy shortages. The government plans to expand installed wind power capacity to 5,000 megawatts by 2010 from 1,000 megawatts at the end of 2005.

Wind power accounted for 0.2 percent of China's installed energy generation capacity at the end of 2005, according to an article on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body.

Yingli Green Energy Holding, a Chinese maker of solar-power models, this month raised $319 million in a U.S. IPO, joining local rivals including LDK Solar in selling stock this year.

China High-Speed has about 90 percent of the Chinese market for wind power transmission equipment, the chairman, Hu Yueming, said recently. It earned about 25 percent of gross profit from wind power gear in 2006, according to the chief financial officer, Edward Lui.

The company also supplies transmission equipment for ships, road transportation, metals processing and construction materials companies, Hu said.

The price range values China High-Speed at 16.5 times to 21.7 times estimated 2008 earnings, the people said. Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish company that is the world's largest windmill maker, trades at 23.9 times next year's estimated earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Morgan Stanley is arranging the share sale.

Zhai Shuping, an official in China High-Speed's Nanjing office, said she had no information about the price range. Cheung Po-ling, a Morgan Stanley spokeswoman in Hong Kong, declined to comment.