(Yicai Global) Sept. 1 -- Hengli Hydraulic’s stock price jumped after the Chinese maker of hydraulic gear and systems announced plans to raise CNY5 billion (USD773 million) via a private placement of shares and build a new plant in Mexico.

Hengli Hydraulic [SHA:601100] closed up 4.4 percent today at CNY99.20 (USD15.34), after earlier surging as much as 5.3 percent.

Hengli Hydraulic will issue new shares to as many as 35 institutional investors, the Changzhou, Jiangsu province-based firm said late yesterday, adding that it plans to invest CNY1.1 billion of the proceeds in a CNY1.2 billion project in Mexico’s Santa Catarina development zone in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

The new plant will have an annual capacity of 200,440 oil cylinders for construction machinery, 62,650 extensions and other special cylinders, as well as 150,000 hydraulic pumps and motors. The firm did not give a construction schedule.

Hengli Hydraulic said the plant will enhance its competitiveness in the United Stales and help it achieve steady supplies to its main and potential clients.

CNY1.4 billion of the funds raised will go to build a production line for electric cylinders and transmission parts in Changzhou to promote Hengli Hydraulic’s high-end products, it said. CNY570 million (USD88.2 million) will be used to set up a research and development center in Changzhou focused on hydraulic pump valves and motors. The new Mexican plant is expected to make some of the R&D center’s resulting products.

Another CNY430 million will go to expand the Changzhou base’s annual output capacity of universal hydraulic pumps and build a super-large heavy duty cylinder production line. The remaining CNY1.5 billion will be used to supplement working capital, Hengli Hydraulic said.

The company already has nine factories turning out hydraulic parts in China, Germany and Japan and partners with well-known clients such as Caterpillar, Kobe Steel, Hitachi Construction Machinery, and Kubota Construction Machinery.

Its share of the global hydraulic market rose from 0.5 percent in 2012 to 3 percent last year, per statistics from the International Fluid Power Statistics Committee.

Editor: Futura Costaglione