JA Solar Buys Chinese Wafer Maker to Boost Capacity, Cut Costs

JA Solar Holdings Co. (JASO), the world’s largest solar cell maker, said it completed the purchase of a Chinese monocrystalline wafer supplier to increase capacity and cut costs.

The Shanghai-based company said today in a statement that it issued 30.9 million ordinary shares to buy Solar Silicon Valley Electronic Science and Technology Co.

When JA Solar announced the deal in July, it said it would issue the 30.9 million shares at $5.825 each at the time of closing, about a 5 percent premium over the price of its American depositary receipts the day before the purchase was disclosed. That valued the Langfang, China-based wafer maker at $180 million.

Today’s announcement said nothing about the price of the shares. Its ADRs, which are worth one share, closed yesterday at $1.83 in New York. The company did not return calls today. The ADRs have dropped 63 percent since July 1.

The purchase will boost JA Solar’s wafer capacity, increasing economies of scale and improving profitability, JA Solar’s Chief Executive Officer Fang Peng said in July. Polysilicon wafers are the basic material used to make photovoltaic solar cells.

JA Solar acquired Solar Silicon Valley by buying its parent, Silver Age Holdings Ltd.. The British Virgin Islands- based holding company is 70 percent-owned by Jinglong Group, which is controlled by JA Solar’s Chairman Baofang Jin.

Shares of JA Solar gained 2.2 percent to $1.87 in New York. Houston-based Raymond James & Associates Inc. analyst Pavel Molchanov cut his rating today to “market ‘‘perform’’ from ‘‘outperform.’’