China: Sunrain to Solve Pengpusang’s Financial Troubles
Chinese flat plate collector manufacturer Pengpusang (international brand Prosunpro) from Shenzhen in southern China seems to have overcome its financial difficulties: “We continue to produce absorbers and collectors and have six colleagues in the overseas sales team,” Alon Ryan confirmed at the end of February. The Vice Director-Overseas of the Marketing Department emphasised that there was “no stop in production, and we are still supplying all our important customers.” The photo shows the anodisation of absorber fins on the factory line in Shenzhen.
Photo: Pengpusang
Pengpusang had already started manufacturing absorbers and collectors back in 1993. According to the company’s own information, Pengpusang has 330 staff members and a production capacity of 900,000 m², which would make it one of the world’s largest manufacturers in its industry segment. In the peak year of 2011, the company reported a manufactured collector area of 400,000 m² and a produced absorber area of 600,000 m² as part of its survey response for the World Map of Solar Thermal Industry 2012 in magazine Sun & Wind Energy. One focus sales area of the company is the design and installation of large-scale solar heating systems.
Sunrain Group bought 30 % stake in October 2013
Pengpusang’s second focus area is the production of OEM collectors used in branded products of other companies. Stakeholders from the Chinese industry assume that the purchase contracts with Haier Water Heater, a subsidiary of the Haier Group, one of the world´s largest appliance manufacturers, have led to the financial difficulties of Pengpusang. Haier had purchased collectors from Pengpusang until it ramped up its own production in Qingdao, Shandong province. This could have caused a rapid decline in sales for Pengpusang as far back as 2013, industry stakeholders explained.
It was in the same year in October that Chinese Solar East Cooperation, whose two well-known solar brands are Sunrain and Micoe, bought a 30 % stake in Pengpusang. According to Chinese financial news portal stock.sohu.com, the Sunrain Group spent Renminbi (RMB) 174 million to finalise the transfer of 12.8 million shares, as well as to increase the financial cushion of Pengpusang. After the transaction, the previous 38 % stake of the company’s chairman, Qiu Renzheng, decreased to 31.18 %, the stock.sohu.com report said.
“Our management is currently in talks with shareholder Solar East Cooperation about how to solve the financial difficulties,” Ryan confirmed at the end of February 2015. The Solar East Cooperation is the only stock market listed company specialised in solar heating and cooling technology in China, so key company figures have been publicly available. The most recent World Map of Solar Thermal Industry 2014 shows that the group produced 5.4 million m² of vacuum tube collector area in 2013. The Solar East Cooperation also stated that it started producing flat plate collectors in 2011 and manufactured 60,000 m² of collector area in 2013.
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