CHINESE green energy firm Hanergy, whose shares plunged nearly 50 percent yesterday, is under investigation by Hong Kong’s market watchdog for alleged market manipulation, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

    The source said the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) had been investigating Hanergy Thin Film Power Group over market manipulation for several weeks.

    Li Hejun, controller of the Chinese solar equipment maker, began yesterday as China’s second-richest man with a fortune worth more than US$30 billion, according to a Forbes estimate. By 11 a.m., he was almost US$14 billion poorer.

    Shares of the company plunged by 47 percent in Hong Kong before trading was suspended at the request of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Li’s absence at the company’s annual meeting in Hong Kong yesterday morning was behind the decline in prices, according to some reports, but there was no reason given by the company for the drop. Hanergy said in a statement it would make an announcement later yesterday.

    Like the abrupt dive, Hanergy’s stock rise of 500 percent in the past year to US$37 billion — more than its nearest two dozen rivals combined — had been surprising to many analysts, who said it was long overvalued. The Financial Times newspaper in reports earlier this year questioned the company’s financial health and transparency.

    It has been one of the top traded stocks under the landmark Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect scheme, which since last November has allowed mainland traders to deal in Hong Kong stocks and vice versa.

    Hanergy, whose business roots trace to the hydropower industry, in recent years has bought at least four Western businesses in a bid to achieve business and technology breakthroughs in thin-film solar products.

    Its market cap rose to several times First Solar, the biggest U.S. thin-film solar maker.

    Li dethroned Alibaba founder Jack Ma as China’s richest man in February, with a net worth of US$26 billion, according to Hurun’s 2015 Global Rich List. Li held the third spot last year.(SD-Agencies)