(Yicai Global) Oct. 27 -- Li Ke, senior vice president of Chinese new energy vehicle maker BYD, plans to sell up to 1 million stocks from her holdings of the firm’s A-shares for personal financial needs, the company said in a statement yesterday. Li, wife of BYD founder and Chairman Li Chuanfu, may cash out about CNY254 million (USD39 million) based on yesterday’s closing price.

Shenzhen-based BYD’s A-shares [SHE:002594] were up 0.79 percent in midafternoon after earlier falling to CNY234.50 (USD36.15), and its H-shares [HKG:1211] were down 2.6 percent at HKD254.80 (USD32.87) after going as low as HKD242.20 as its shares listed in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong fell by more than 7 percent in early trading today.

Li held 11.92 million of BYD’s A-shares as of yesterday, making up 0.44 percent of the company’s total. Li, who has held the stock for more than 10 years, said she is confident in the company’s growth prospects and will hold on to its equities for a long time, the statement added.

BYD’s share price has climbed since the middle of last year, rising fourfold in just eight months from some CNY60 in June.

BYD announced the issue of 133 million new H-shares, or about 4.88 percent of its outstanding stock, on Jan. 21. The price per share of HKD225 raised it nearly HKD30 billion (USD3.87 billion).

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi