China's clean energy and technology industry investment activities remained active in the first quarter of 2017, boosted by the recovery of the private equity investment market and strong support from the capital market. PwC's latest release of MoneyTreeTM China's Clean Energy and Technology Industry's First Quarter 2017 Investment Research Report shows that the clean energy and technology industry experienced 42 PE/VC investment events and 28 M&A events in the first quarter. In the IPO, the highest single-season record was achieved, reaching 10.
It is understood that in the first quarter of 2017, China's clean energy and technology industry policies and regulations focused on the energy sector and launched a top-level design. On January 13, 2017, the Energy Bureau released the “13th Five-Year Plan for Energy Technology Innovation”, which proposed the development goals of energy technology innovation and provided an important guide for promoting the energy technology revolution in the next five years. On March 27, 2017, the Energy Bureau issued the “Implementation Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Investment and Financing System in the Energy Industry” to encourage social capital to participate in energy investment and guide the energy industry to seek further development through the power of finance and capital.
Wang Binhong, a partner of China Power and Utilities, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that the regulatory authorities have fully affirmed the important role of energy investment and financing in stabilizing growth, restructuring, benefiting people's livelihood and promoting supply-side structural reforms. The key policies promulgated by the government in this field are of great significance to the reform of the investment and financing system of the energy industry, which will help create a platform for fair competition for private enterprises and state-owned enterprises. At the same time, it is expected to solve the problem of financing difficulties for state-owned enterprises and accelerate the government and Social Capital Cooperation (PPP) model.
According to the report, in the first quarter of 2017, there were 42 PE/VC investment events in China's clean energy and technology industry, of which 23 cases were invested in the environmental protection industry, accounting for 54.8% of the total; the disclosed investment amount was 381 million US dollars, environmental protection, new Energy and new materials accounted for 36.7%, 25.6%, and 35.8%, respectively, and the distribution of “three pillars” appeared for the first time. In the first quarter, companies in the clean energy and technology industry are still focusing on mature companies such as the NEEQ listed companies and listed companies.
In addition, in the first quarter, China's clean energy and technology industry mergers and acquisitions a total of 28 cases, the disclosure of mergers and acquisitions amounted to 1.326 billion US dollars, of which only one cross-border mergers and acquisitions, the other are domestic mergers and acquisitions. The overall performance of the environmental protection M&A market in the first quarter was outstanding. A total of 17 M&A cases were completed, and the amount of M&A was disclosed at US$871 million, accounting for 60.7% and 65.7% respectively. It is worth mentioning that the top two cases of clean energy and technology industry M&A are from the environmental protection industry. From the source of funds, there are 10 mergers and acquisitions supported by the PE/VC background.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter of 2017, China's clean energy and technology industry completed 10 IPOs, a record high, becoming the quarter with the largest number of listings since 2014. At the same time, the average amount of funds raised by the IPO has fallen sharply, which is nearly 80% lower than the average amount of funds raised in 2016. From the perspective of listed exchanges, one company is listed on the main board of Hong Kong, and nine companies are listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Among them, the average amount of funds raised by Shenzhen SME board is the highest, reaching US$126 million.
“The outstanding performance of investment in the clean energy and technology industry in the first quarter is consistent with the overall trend of the private equity investment market.” Wang Binhong said that in the first quarter, private investment activities were frequent, and both IPOs and M&A channels were withdrawn from investors. Created space. It is believed that under the vigorous promotion of the use of investment and financing platforms by the regulatory authorities, more enterprises will benefit from the capital market.