GUELPH, ON, July 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar
Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), announced
today that a special committee of independent directors of the
Company, with the assistance of outside financial and legal
advisors, has completed a review of strategic alternatives
available to the Company.
After an assessment of the results of the strategic review, the
board of directors of the Company (the "Board") decided to pursue a
listing of the Company's Modules and System Solutions ("MSS")
business on either the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Science and
Technology Innovation Board ("STAR market") or the Shenzhen Stock
Exchange's ChiNext Market, both of which are intended to support
innovative and fast-growing companies. The listing of the MSS
business includes the shares of Canadian Solar's principal
China subsidiary and overseas
sales subsidiaries (collectively "Subsidiary").
Based on precedents in the China IPO market, the listing process
is estimated to take 18-24 months. To qualify, according to Chinese
securities regulations, the Subsidiary is required to be converted
into a Sino-foreign joint stock company prior to listing which
shall be completed through a round of equity raising from
China-domiciled investors.
The Company, which also holds a world-leading global energy
business focused on the development and selective partial ownership
of solar and storage projects, remains committed to its NASDAQ
listing. For this purpose, the Company will continue to seek
capital partnerships with long-term investors looking for
opportunities to deploy capital in clean, profitable and
countercyclical solar energy infrastructure investments, either
through public or private investment vehicles.
"This potential listing of our MSS in China will provide us a new platform to
raise investment capital and strengthen our leading
position in solar manufacturing. Meanwhile, by remaining listed on
the NASDAQ as a Canadian company and partnering with long-term
investors, we will continue to grow our solar project development
platform in every major market around the world and reap the
synergies from the two complementary businesses," said Dr.
Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO.
Dr. Qu added, "Canadian Solar shareholders, as owners of the
China IPO issuer, will continue to own the solar manufacturing
business and benefit from its potential growth upside. We
appreciate China's continued
efforts to open its financial markets and welcome foreign issuers
such as Canadian Solar."
Whether the company can successfully list its MSS business in
the Chinese stock market and its market valuation after listing
will depend on various factors, including but not limited to,
capital market conditions in China
and globally, the regulatory environment for listed securities, the
Company's financial performance and fulfilling the listing
requirements in China.
About Canadian Solar Inc.
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest solar
power companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic
modules and provider of solar energy solutions and has a
geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale solar power
projects in various stages of development. Over the past 19 years,
Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 43 GW of
premium-quality, solar photovoltaic modules to customers in over
150 countries. Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies
in the solar industry, having been publicly listed on NASDAQ since
2006. For additional information about the Company, follow Canadian
Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.
Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking
statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements
are made under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can
identify forward-looking statements by such terms as "believes,"
"expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," the negative of
these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ include general business and
economic conditions and the state of the solar industry;
governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future
available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use
products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the
supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes
in demand from major markets such as Japan, the U.S., India and China; changes in customer order patterns;
changes in product mix; capacity utilization; level of competition;
pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in
new product introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval
process; delays in utility-scale project construction; delays in
the completion of project sales; continued success in technological
innovations and delivery of products with the features customers
demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements;
availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; litigation
and other risks as described in the Company's SEC filings,
including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 28, 2020. Although the Company believes
that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements
are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of
activity, performance, or achievements. Investors should not place
undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information
provided in this press release is as of today's date, unless
otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update
such information, except as required under applicable law.
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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.