Chinese solar company founder steps down to make way for restructuring
Li Hejun quits a year after Hanergy Thin Film Power Group’s Hong Kong-listed shares were suspended amid probe by market regulators
Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, the Chinese solar company whose shares have been suspended amid a probe by market regulators, said its founder and main shareholder Li Hejun resigned as chairman and executive director in a boardroom shake-up designed to improve the way the company is governed.
Li had no disagreement with the board and isn’t quitting for reasons that need to be brought to the attention of regulators, Hanergy said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.
Yuan Yabin, 48, will replace him as chairman and executive director. He currently acts as deputy general director of the company’s parent, Hanergy Holding Group.
It’s been almost exactly a year since Hanergy’s Hong Kong-listed shares were suspended after the stock collapsed in a half hour of trading, reducing the company’s market value by US$19 billion and prompting an investigation by stock market regulators. The plunge made Hanergy an emblem of the froth in China’s stock markets that had made Li, for a time, the nation’s richest man.