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Hanergy TFP NEWS $$$ Opens 60 Stores,Centers $$$

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russellf...cross-country/

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nach...-group-ltd.htm

Business 3/22/2015 @ 7:53PM 14 views
China Thin-Film Solar Leader Hanergy Opens 60 Stores, Centers Across Country
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Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, the thin-film solar power equipment and product company led by Chinese billionaire Li Hejun, opened 60 retail stores and “user-experience centers” around the country on Saturday in a bid to boost its brand and sales among retail customers, Hanergy said on Sunday.

Hanergy also on Saturday launched an online sales site, hanergyshop.com, and another site on Alibaba, according to a statement.

The stores partly highlight rooftop solar panels that Hanergy hopes will become a main source of future revenue. Hanergy said it plans to increase the number of user experience centers to 300 throughout China this year and to 1,500 worldwide by 2017.

Hanergy, whose founder Li made some of his early money in the hydropower business, has since 2013 has acquired thin-film related intellectual property from overseas businesses Solibro, MiaSolé, Global Solar Energy and Alta Devices, turning itself into China’s top company in that niche. Li’s push into solar energy comes amid a big government effort to increase solar’s use to combat the country’s appalling air pollution.

A five-times rise in the Hanergy’s Hong Kong-traded’s shares in the past year have drawn skepticism from some analysts about its valuation. Hanergy’s market cap stood at $36 billion after Friday’s close, compared with just $6 billion for First Solar, the big U.S. thin-film solar panel maker. Most of the Hong Kong-listed company’s business has in the past been done with its unlisted parent company, though that share is declining.

Li ranks No.1 among mainland Chinese on the Forbes real-time billionaires list with an estimated fortune of $30 billion.

-Follow me on Twitter @rflannerychina