China's BYD sets price for its offering in Shenzhen

The Wall Street Journal (Beijing) - Battery and car maker BYD Co. said Sunday it has set the price of its Shenzhen initial public offering at 18 yuan a share, in a sale that aims to raise as much as 1.42 billion yuan ($219 million).

The Chinese company, which is 10%-owned by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said it plans to sell up to 79 million yuan-denominated shares in the offering, and that investors can begin subscribing to the new shares Tuesday.

The new shares will account for 3.4% of the post-offering enlarged capital. The company is already listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The Shenzhen-based company's 2010 net profit fell 34% from a year earlier to 2.52 billion yuan, due to fierce competition and a reduction in government incentives for auto purchases. China's auto sales growth has moderated since the start of 2011 as the government started to remove stimulus measures that supported car purchases, after the nation overtook the U.S. to become the world's biggest auto market.

"With growing competition from the domestic and international rivals, car market and constantly changing consumer demand, the company's auto business will face a tougher challenge," BYD said in the prospectus.

The company's car sales rose 16% to 519,806 vehicles in 2010. That was less than half of the average growth of well above 30% in China's auto industry last year, and it fell far short of BYD's own publicly stated aim of nearly doubling sales to 800,000 cars. Dealers have been defecting, and a planned push into the U.S. electric-car market is almost a year behind schedule.

In a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the company said it plans to use the raised money toward investing 400 million yuan in a lithium battery production project, 1.14 billion yuan for establishing a research and manufacturing center, and 652 million yuan on expanding its auto unit projects.

"The company aims to consolidate its global status as a leader of the secondary battery industry, and the company strives to become an auto manufacturing company with a global competitiveness," BYD said in the statement.

UBS AG is the lead underwriter for the offering.