China Resources New Energy (001248.SZ) shares nearly tripled in the company's Shenzhen trading debut on Thursday, after the wind and solar power firm raised 24.5 billion yuan ($3.61 billion) in Asia's biggest initial public offering so far this year.

The stock opened at 21.60 yuan versus an IPO price of 10.11 yuan then surged as much as 198%, triggering a brief trading suspension.

The stock was up 144% to 24.7 as of 0304 GMT, with the value of shares traded reaching 12.2 billion yuan ($1.80 billion).

The debut, which bucked a nearly 2% decline in the blue-chip index CSI300 SZSE:399300, is a test of efforts to attract major mainland listings and draw household savings back to the stock market after an IPO slowdown.

The strong start for one of China's largest renewable power operators offers a confidence boost for issuers and investors ahead of a pipeline of multi-billion-yuan share sales, signalling renewed appetite for such sales that outweighs some weakness in mainland equities markets.

A-share IPOs, or listings on Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing exchanges, raised $7.7 billion in the first half of the year, up 64.4% from the same period a year earlier, LSEG data showed. Overall IPO proceeds by Chinese companies, including offshore listings, nearly doubled to $16.2 billion.

A revived IPO trading market could encourage more and bigger deals, including that of memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), which is planning a 29.5 billion yuan Shanghai IPO.

OVERCAPACITY HAS LED TO WEAKER SHARES

China Resources New Energy is controlled by Hong Kong-listed China Resources Power HKEX:836, part of state-owned China Resources Group. It invests in, builds and runs wind and solar farms across China.

The country is the world's largest installer of renewable energy by far but that scale and industrial overcapacity has led to weaker share prices for some listed companies across the sector. China's largest solar panel makers have posted years of loss while the CSI New Energy index SSE:399808, which tracks the clean energy sector, is still about 40% off a 2022 peak even though a rally has been ongoing since late last year.

China Resources New Energy is primarily an operator of renewable energy infrastructure, not a manufacturer, and so could be more insulated from the overcapacity issue. Guotai analysts said the company operated 4% of China's wind power and 1.2% of its solar assets nationally.

The company's IPO is Shenzhen's biggest on record, LSEG data showed. Retail investors placed about 6.4 trillion yuan worth of orders for an online portion of the deal, making the retail tranche more than 683 times covered.

China Resources New Energy sold 2.11 billion shares before an over-allotment option, equal to about 16.2% of its enlarged share capital. If the option is fully exercised, the sale will rise to 2.42 billion shares.

Listing proceeds will go toward investment for wind and solar projects.

The IPO comes as the government aims to generate half of its electricity using non-fossil sources by 2030, even as power producers face falling power prices, grid limits and heavy competition.

($1 = 6.7859 Chinese yuan renminbi)