One of the world’s leading solar PV module manufacturers, Trina Solar, announced Wednesday that it had secured a $1.57 billion loan from CITIC Bank.
According to a press released published Wednesday by Trina Solar, the booming China-based manufacturer revealed that it had secured a 5-year strategic cooperation agreement with CITIC Financial Leasing, and a separate 3-year strategic cooperation agreement with CITIC Bank Corporation Limited Changzhou Branch.
The terms of the agreements place Trina Solar as a preferred strategic partner of CITIC, providing Trina Solar with “one-stop customised financial products and services,” which includes credit facilities of RMB5 billion from CITIC Financial Leasing to support Trina Solar equipment upgrade, downstream projects, and another RMB5 billion from CITIC Changzhou for trade financing. Translated into USD$, this equates to a loan of $1.57 billion.
“We are pleased to build a long-term strategic partnership with CITIC based on our existing cooperative relationship to fuel our global growth and optimize our capital structure,” said Ms. Teresa Tan, Chief Financial Officer of Trina Solar. “We believe these arrangements demonstrate CITIC’s continued strong confidence in our current business model and future prospects.
“The two cooperation agreements not only allow us access to CITIC’s diverse financing resources and experienced professional services, but also enable CITIC to access Trina’s established industry network and participate in our strong growth. This strategic partnership creates a win-win outcome. We will continue to secure necessary funding to ensure adequate financial resources to support execution of our growth strategy and enhance our leading position in the solar industry.”
Trina Solar is an enviable investment these days, having recorded two straight quarters of record results this year, and another likely around the corner. According to its second quarterly earnings report, Trina Solar finished the quarter with total module shipments of 1,231.6 MW, which was 20% up on an already record Q1, and 30.6% up on a year earlier.
“We achieved our second straight quarter of record results and our strongest quarter ever for both upstream and downstream in almost all financial and operating metrics,” said Mr. Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar, in August. “We not only beat the high end of our guidance with record module shipments of 1.23 GW and project connections of 121.3 MW, we also experienced strong top-line and bottom-line growth and improved fundamentals while focusing on profitable growth.”
