(Yicai Global) Feb. 3 -- Shares of Sungrow Power Supply jumped after the world's biggest photovoltaic inverter seller said that it aims to raise about CNY4.2 billion (USD643 million) via private placement to increase its production.

Sungrow's equity price [SHE: 300274] was 5.7 percent up at CNY104.02 (USD16.10) in the afternoon after surging as much as 11.5 percent earlier. The shares have climbed more than 10 times over the past 12 months and reached a historical high on Jan. 25 after the firm announced some promising 2020 earnings.

The solar power equipment maker would use about CNY2.4 billion of the proceeds to build an inverter plant in Hefei, the Anhui province-based firm said in a statement yesterday. It would make 70 gigawatts of PV inverters each year, 15 GW of wind power converters, and 15 GW of energy storage converters. Construction will take three years.

Sungrow's PV inverters held a 21 percent global market share last June, according to IHS Markit. The company's sales of the equipment have ranked first globally since 2015.

Sungrow didn't reveal its fresh investors' names but China Times reported last week that Cao Renxian, president of the firm, had recently visited Hillhouse Capital’s founder Zhang Lei. Hillhouse Capital invested in two Chinese solar power giants Longi Green Energy Technology and Tongwei Solar last December.

Beyond the new production line, the rest of the funds will be used to expand the company's research and development efforts, to build global marketing prowess, and to supplement the firm's working capital, it added.

Sungrow's business has been good. The Chinese company expects to record a sum between CNY1.9 billion and CNY2.1 billion in net profit last year, at least double that of a year ago, according to its earnings report. Its revenues should rise as much as 54 percent to a point between CNY19 billion and CNY20 billion (up to USD3.1 billion).

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi