On October 16, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) announced a plan to use 40 million yuan of its own funds to acquire 3.274 million shares, or a 1.6% stake, in Changzhou Baijia Niancheng Film Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Baijia Niancheng") from Jiangsu Baixing Industrial Investment Group. Among Baijia Niancheng's existing shareholders is natural person Wu Weizhong, who is the younger brother of the spouse of Gao Jifan, the actual controller of Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599), making this transaction a related-party deal.
Notably, Baijia Niancheng's debt-to-asset ratio stands at 75%, while Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) itself has seen its own debt ratio rise to a record high of 77.7%, with financial expenses surging sharply in recent years and jumping more than 160% year-on-year in the first half. In addition, the transaction carries a 150% premium, yet the target company has not disclosed its net profit figures.
In fact, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) has seen revenue decline for two consecutive years and has posted losses for two straight years. In the first half of this year, it narrowed its losses through asset disposals, but core business profitability has not improved, with fixed asset impairment and inventory write-down losses remaining persistently high. In 2021 and 2023, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) raised 14 billion yuan through convertible bonds to continue expanding capacity, and subsequently planned to raise another 10.9 billion yuan through a private placement. However, the market did not embrace the plan, and it ultimately failed to materialize. The company is now spending another 40 million yuan to take over an asset linked to the actual controller's related party, and the true motivation behind this decision deserves attention.
Debt ratio hits a new high as financial expenses surge; target acquisition carries a 150% premium with no earnings disclosed. Recently, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) announced plans to pay 40 million yuan in cash to acquire a 1.6% stake in Baijia Niancheng. Wu Weizhong, the younger brother of the spouse of Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) actual controller Gao Jifan, is one of its existing shareholders. Baijia Niancheng's main business is photovoltaic encapsulation film. Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) stated that the purpose of this equity acquisition is to "deepen industrial synergy through equity ties and ensure the stability of supply chain provisions."
According to the announcement, as of the end of March this year, Baijia Niancheng's net assets were approximately 1.033 billion yuan, with a debt ratio of 75%. At the same time, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) saw its own debt ratio rise to a record high of 77.7% as of the end of June. As the acquirer, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) has faced persistent debt pressure in recent years. In the first half of this year, the company's financial expenses reached 1.110 billion yuan, surging 162.22% year-on-year, with interest expenses climbing sharply.
The announcement shows that based on Baijia Niancheng's owner's equity of 1.006 billion yuan at the end of 2025, the transaction parties negotiated a valuation of 2.5 billion yuan for the target company, corresponding to a price-to-book ratio of approximately 2.5 times and an acquisition premium of 150%. It should be noted that the announcement disclosed that Baijia Niancheng's revenue for 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 was 3.160 billion yuan and 654 million yuan, respectively, but net profit figures for the same periods were not disclosed. Whether the target has been profitable or loss-making recently remains unknown.
Fixed asset impairments remain elevated as the core photovoltaic business continues to post massive losses; after raising 14 billion yuan via convertible bonds, the 10.9 billion yuan private placement plan fell through. In fact, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) core business operations have been in trouble for quite some time. In 2024, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) generated revenue of 80.282 billion yuan, down 29.21% year-on-year, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of 3.443 billion yuan, swinging from a profit of 5.531 billion yuan the previous year. In 2025, the company's revenue was 66.975 billion yuan, down 16.61% year-on-year, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of 7.031 billion yuan, widening further.
In the first half of this year, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) revenue stabilized year-on-year, and net loss attributable to shareholders narrowed from -2.918 billion yuan in the same period last year to -270 million yuan. However, non-GAAP net loss remained at -2.890 billion yuan, essentially flat compared with -2.956 billion yuan in the same period last year. The roughly 2.62 billion yuan gap between net profit attributable to shareholders and non-GAAP net profit came almost entirely from non-recurring gains and losses, meaning core business operations did not improve.
Alongside weak core profitability, asset impairment losses have remained persistently high. In the first half of 2026, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) recognized total asset impairment losses of 813 million yuan, including 762 million yuan in inventory write-down losses, up 52.6% year-on-year. The company attributed this mainly to a decline in the net realizable value of inventory caused by falling industry prices. Fixed asset impairment losses were 48 million yuan, as the rapid adoption of N-type technology accelerated the phasing out of P-type production lines, leaving older and inefficient capacity exposed to impairment risk.
Since 2022, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) asset impairment losses have remained at high levels, and various credit impairment losses, including bad debt provisions, have also climbed year by year, severely weighing on the company's performance. As of the end of June, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) fixed assets and inventory still stood at 23.4 billion yuan and 26.1 billion yuan, respectively. If the price environment does not fundamentally improve, the pressure for further provisions has not been eliminated.
In reality, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) current debt and impairment pressures are directly related to its two previous rounds of large-scale financing and expansion. In 2021 and 2023, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) raised approximately 14 billion yuan in total through convertible bonds, pushing production capacity to new levels. In July 2023, the company also disclosed a private placement plan of no more than 10.9 billion yuan, intended for high-efficiency cell and module projects in Huai'an, Dongtai, and other locations, as well as to supplement working capital. However, the market ultimately did not accept it, and the private placement was terminated in July 2024 without being implemented.
With equity financing channels narrowing and debt financing costs continuously rising, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) continues to rely on its own funds and rolling debt to sustain operations and investment, and the cost of doing so is already evident. This time, Trina Solar Co., Ltd. (688599) is spending another 40 million yuan to take over an asset in which the younger brother of actual controller Gao Jifan's spouse holds a stake, and the true motivation behind the decision deserves attention.
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