BYD chairman sells shares to overseas investors

Shanghai, May 20 (Gasgoo.com) Chinese battery and auto maker BYD Co. said that its chairman and president Wang Chuanfu has sold some of his shares to overseas investors, as requested by the country's stock regulator, the 21st Century Business Herald  reported.

Wang sold the equivalent of 0.55% of the company to long-term overseas shareholders, a spokesman for BYD Auto told the media yesterday, adding that Wang sold his shares at the request of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, but as the founder of BYD he is still holding HK$570 million of the company's stock.

An unidentified BYD investor sold 11.177 million shares in the company on May 13 for HK$280 million ($35.8 million), and this mysterious seller is now confirmed to be BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu.

"Foreign investors are optimistic about BYD's long-term profitability," said Ricon Xia, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research (H.K.) Ltd. in Shanghai. "BYD's cars are selling really well this year. They've even beaten their own expectations."

In March, Wang said BYD aims to more than double its sales this year to 400,000 vehicles. The company also expects Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. to get Chinese regulatory approval to buy a 10% stake in BYD, valued at about HK$1.8 billion, by September 26.

BYD President, Wang Chuanfu