China's privately owned battery and automobile maker BYD Co is planning to raise capital for new projects through issuance of as many as 100 million A shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Reuters reported yesterday.

The capital raised would be mainly used to fund the company's lithium-ion battery production, auto research and development, expansion of auto products and parts, as well as a solar battery program, with the rest to be used as working capital, according to BYD.

The Warren Buffett-backed automaker said it would seek shareholders' approval for the proposed listing through a shareholders meeting in September, Reuters reported, without further details.

BYD had filed for a 58.5-million A shares listing in Shenzhen or Shanghai in January last year but later postponed the issue as the A-share market weakened due to the financial crisis last year.

"BYD wants to be the world leader in the electric car segment, so they need a lot of capital to further develop own technologies and improve capability," said an auto analyst familiar with BYD's plans. "And it also needs money to fund its other expansion programs."

Earlier this week, BYD's sales manager Wang Jianjun admitted that his company planned to acquire idled Hunan Sanxiang Bus Group, and was considering producing new energy buses, with the first batch of 1,000 units to be delivered to the Shenzhen municipal government.

(China Daily July 17, 2009)