MIAMI BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--During his keynote presentation at the Energy Track at the 3rd Annual ROTH Capital Partners China Investment Conference, Louis Schwartz highlighted China’s plans to invest an estimated $2.65 trillion in energy infrastructure, production and distribution by 2020, fueling growth that will see China overtake the United States in annual gross domestic product (GDP) before 2030.

Schwartz, president of China Strategies, LLC, told a standing-room-only audience at The Fontainebleau Miami Beach yesterday that investing in energy infrastructure is essential to China’s continued economic growth. Key highlights from the presentation included:

Of the $2.65 trillion to be invested in energy, at least $263 billion is targeted for renewable energy, which will grow from 10 percent to 30 percent of total energy output in China from 2010 to 2020. The mix includes hydroelectric, wind, nuclear and solar.

“The investments in energy infrastructure will enable China to surpass the U.S. in GDP before 2030,” Schwartz said. “The forces driving China's energy industry in new directions include government investment in energy generation and distribution, an emerging model for sustainable development in China and opportunities for foreign investment in the transformation of China's energy infrastructure.”

Estimates show China GDP growing from $5 trillion in 2010 to $26 trillion by 2030, while the U.S. goes from $15 trillion to $23 trillion.

Schwartz said China has other reasons for investing in renewable energy. With growing prosperity in the country, automobile ownership will go from 50 million to 220 million by 2020. As a result, China will need 600 million metric tons of crude oil by 2020, but production will have hit a plateau at 220 million metric tons that year. The transportation sector’s share of crude oil production is projected to increase from 35 percent in 2008 to 50 percent in 2020.

China has already ramped up the production of electric scooters and bicycles, with just 200,000 in 2001 and an estimated 22 million on the road in 2009. It is launching mandatory conservation programs for residential and commercial buildings and finding other ways to manage energy production, distribution and usage. It is providing subsidies for installing solar on roofs, buying electric vehicles and installing wind farms and biomass facilities.

“The bottom line is that energy investments in China could be a bigger economic driver than the rise of the Internet,” said Schwartz, whose firm consults with its clients on policy, investments and business development in the Chinese energy market.

In addition to the presentation by Schwartz, the ROTH conference China Energy Track included presentations by 19 companies that operate within China's energy sector, including transportation fuels, energy storage, power generation, electricity transmission & distribution, and renewable energy.

“We view the build-out of China’s energy infrastructure as one of the most compelling investment themes over the next several years,” said Mark Tobin, director of research at ROTH. “Interest in the U.S.-listed China sector from our institutional client base has never been stronger. The performance of U.S.-listed China equities reflects this confidence, with ROTH‘s Research Universe of 58 companies gaining 126.8 percent year to date.”

Sixty U.S.-listed Chinese companies and ten U.S. based companies with growth prospects in China met with more than 250 institutional investors during the ROTH conference. The Miami line-up included Chairmen, CEOs, and CFOs of companies from some of the most exciting sectors in China, including energy, infrastructure, consumer, industrials, healthcare, education and technology with an average market cap of $270 million.

This conference is another chapter in ROTH's commitment to China. Over the past five years, ROTH has taken U.S. investors to more than 50 company facilities in mainland China and hosted approximately 300 China company presentations at its U.S. and China conferences. ROTH opened its Shanghai Representative Office in May 2007 and currently employs 25 China-focused professionals. Since 2006, ROTH has completed 47 capital raising transactions totaling more than $2.2 billion, including seven since May 2009 that raised approximately $300 million.

For more information, visit the ROTH website at: www.roth.com.

About ROTH:

ROTH is a full service investment banking firm dedicated to the small-cap public market. Since its inception in 1984, ROTH has been an innovator in underwriting IPOs for this important segment and in developing the PIPE (private investment in public equity) financing structure. ROTH was one of the first U.S. investment banks to focus on financing small-cap Chinese companies and established a Representative Office in Shanghai in 2007. For more information, please visit www.roth.com.

Disclaimer: The material, information and facts discussed in this announcement other than the information regarding ROTH Capital Partners, LLC (“ROTH”) and its affiliates, are from sources believed to be reliable, but are in no way guaranteed to be complete or accurate. Additional information is available upon request. No part of this announcement may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of ROTH.

* Subject to change

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