The project arm of Chinese manufacturer, JinkoSolar, has secured a credit line worth CNY10 billion (US$1.5 billion) with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Jiangxi Provincial branch.
The credit will be available to fund subsidiary Jinko Power’s growing downstream activities, and would be used for working capital loans, supply chain financing loans, and project loans, the company said.
It represents the latest in a string of large credit and financing deals secured by Jinko in recent months, with Ping An Bank and Credit Suisse among investors to have recently backed the company. The bulk of Jinko's project work so far has been in China.
“Working with ICBC, the largest commercial bank in China, once again demonstrates the confidence that leading financial institutions have in our brand as well as our project development potential,” said Xiande Li, chairman of JinkoSolar.
“This financial support will further enhance Jinko Power's project development capabilities. With the support of government policy and the booming of project development in China, we're glad to see more commercial banks entering the downstream solar market. We think highly of cooperating with ICBC and hope to develop more high-quality power plants and eventually repay our investors and society by producing more clean energy.”
Towards the end of 2014 Jinko revealed plans to spin Jinko Power out into a yieldco to support its move into downstream activities. Flotations in either the US and Hong Kong were mooted by the company.
Those plans have yet to bear fruit, but comments in recent analysts events suggest they remain on the table.
