(Yicai) Jan. 6 -- Shares of Farasis Energy rose after the Chinese lithium battery maker unveiled a new equity transaction plan nearly a year and a half after first announcing that its actual controller would likely change to an investment firm under the Guangzhou government.

Farasis Energy [SHA: 688567] jumped 3.5 percent to CNY12.01 (USD1.65) a share as of 2.05 p.m. in Shanghai today, after earlier surging by as much as 8.5 percent.

Farasis Energy announced late Jan. 3 that its controlling shareholder, Farasis Energy Asia Pacific, and concert parties plan to sell a 5 percent stake in the company to a unit of Guangzhou Industrial Investment Holding Group for CNY972 million (USD130 million), or CNY15.90 a share.

GIIHG will pay a 27 percent premium based on Farasis Energy's closing price of CNY11.60 on Dec. 31. The stock was suspended from trading on Jan. 2 and 3 in preparation for the transaction.

GIIHG will directly and indirectly hold a 14.2 percent stake in Farasis Energy after the deal, the target company noted. In addition, Farasis Energy Asia Pacific has committed to waiving the voting rights related to its 5.3 percent stake from the share transfer date to ensure that GIIHG can exercise its rights as controller, it added.

Before the transaction is complete, the actual controllers of Ganzhou-based Farasis Energy remain founders Yu Wang and Keith D. Kepler.

At the end of July 2023, Farasis Energy said that its actual controller would sell a 5 percent stake to GIIHG at CNY28.37 a share, or a total of CNY1.7 billion. However, the transaction was not completed and the stock price more than halved since then.

Established in 2019, GIIHG is also the actual controller of state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group, a core customer of Farasis Energy. Mercedes-Benz Group is another of its major clients.

Farasis Energy went public on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style Star Market in 2020, but its performance has been consistently poor since listing. It racked up CNY4.1 billion (USD556 million) of net loss from 2020 to 2023 and CNY304 million in the first three quarters of last year.

Editor: Martin Kadiev