(Yicai) Aug. 8 -- Swiss banking giant UBS and other institutional investors that bought shares in Chinese new energy firms through private placements earlier this year have racked up heavy losses as prices slump from their previous highs.

UBS subscribed to CNY764 million (USD106 million) of new shares issued by Chinese electric car battery maker Pylon Technologies in January. Today, when the lock-up period expired, they were worth CNY481 million.

Pylon’s share price [SHA:688063] plunged 7.4 percent to close at CNY156.80 (USD21.74) today, 37 percent lower than the offering price in January.

Based on the latest share price, mutual fund manager Southern Asset Management, which was the biggest investor in the private placement, has lost CNY292 million (USD40 million) on its investment, followed by UBS with CNY283 million.

UBS will also be bracing for more bad news when the lock-up period on 19.5 million new shares issued by Ginlong Technologies earlier this year ends on Aug. 10. The Zurich-based lender snapped up CNY382 million (USD52.9 million) worth at the time.

The photovoltaic inverter producer’s stock was until recently one of the fastest growing on the mainland, surging 19-fold between 2020 and 2022, when the Ningbo, eastern Zhejiang province-based company benefited from a booming solar market.

However, the share price could not continue to meet investors’ expectations and began to tumble at the start of the year, market insiders told Yicai.

Today Ginlong’s stock price [SHE:300763] closed down 2.9 percent at CNY87.44 (USD12), 41 percent below its offering price of CNY150 in January.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor