Editorial Summary

Solarfun Power Holdings Co. (Nasdaq: SOLF) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday to offer a private placement of convertible senior notes to generate estimated net proceeds of US$144.5 million. Assuming initial purchasers buy additional notes, the company could generate as much as $168.8 million. Solarfun plans to use proceeds from the private placement to pre-pay approximately $60 million for wafers and polysilicons, spend $60 million on capital expenditures, and $19 million to repay loans from its wholly-owned indirect subsidiary Hong Kong Huaerli Trading Company Limited. The company will conduct the placement through an offering of nearly eight million American depositary shares in a deal that will be underwritten by Morgan Stanley.