CHINA'S electric car producer BYD Co yesterday asked shareholders to postpone its plan to list A-shares after the stock market plunged.

The Shenzhen-based car maker, backed by billionaire Warrent Buffett, intends to delay the listing proposal in the Chinese mainland by 12 months to September 2011, according to its statement filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Its shareholders will vote on the proposal at a meeting on August 30.

BYD's board of directors had earlier agreed to issue up to 100 million new shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to raise 2.85 billion yuan (US$420 million) to fund expansion. The proposal, which has been submitted to the securities regulator, will expire on September 7.

The proceeds of the A-share listing will be mainly used to expand its lithium-battery production, auto and spare parts manufacturing as well as finance a solar battery project, BYD said in an earlier statement.

Analysts cited the recent sluggish stock market for making it more difficult for BYD to entice investors to its A-share listing and it is waiting for a better time to list on the mainland.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares, has slumped 25 percent so far this year, and tightening credit and the Chinese government's efforts to curb property speculation have been blamed. BYD's Hong Kong-listed shares rose 1.4 percent to HK$55.10 (US$7.10) yesterday.

BYD was the fourth-biggest car maker in China when its vehicle sales jumped 63 percent to 289,000 units in the first half of this year.