Yingli Solar, a mainland solar power equipment maker, plans to raise about US$400 million from an initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock market by the end of this year or early next, the South China Morning Post reported, citing market sources. Fund managers said Yingli's offering, which would be twice the size of Focus Media Holding's mainland record US$197 million Nasdaq sale last year, would prove attractive to investors. Mainland solar companies such as Yingli need fresh capital so they can buy the high-grade silicon needed to make photovoltaic cells. Surplus demand for the raw material has pushed prices to as much as US$200 a kilogram from as low as US$20 at the beginning of last year.
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