By MA Yueran
Hongshi Holding Group has taken 53.5 of stakes in Asia Silicon. Formerly regarded as a cement manufacturer, Hongshi has become the sole controller of the polysilicon manufacturer.
Asia Silicon was founded by SHI Zhengrong in 2006. An ultra-high-purity polysilicon raw materials supplier, the company’s business involves photovoltaic power stations and development of electronic gases.
In 2020, Asia Silicon filed for an IPO on China’s STAR board, planning to raise 1.5 billion yuan (US$220 million). It had withdrawn the IPO application by May 2022.
According to its prospectus, Shi and the other shareholders of Asia Silicon signed a deal that should the company fail to go public by the end of 2022, the controlling shareholder of the company would buy back investors’ stakes.
The controlling shareholder of Asia Silicon at that time was a company controlled by Shi and his wife. Rumors broke out that the Shis wanted to sell their stake in the company for 11 billion yuan.
Shi founded solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings in 2001. Four years later, Suntech Power was listed on Nasdaq. According to Hurun Report's China Rich List 2013, Shi had a personal net worth of US$330 million.
But in 2012, the US and the EU began investigations that left Suntech facing such harsh fines that it went bankrupt in 2013.
Shi then founded Sunman Energy in 2014. Sunman claims to have commercialized the world's first glass-free, lightweight and flexible panel.
