China State Grid Taking Over Europe?

[amoy]

A wise way to diversify Chinese investment portfolio to take advange of Eurozone crisis (esp. of PIGS) lest too much be concentrated on the US T-bonds. The public utility sector is usually good assets with a steady return on investment. :thumb:

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China State Grid Taking Over Europe? - Power Insider AsiaPower Insider Asia


Following the acquisition of Portugal two years ago, after the grid operator of the shares, at the end of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has finalized the Italian grid shareholders shares trading, after the debt crisis in Europe to seize the energy companies and the privatization of state-owned assets shrink opportunities smoothly into the European conflict on foreign utility sector, an important step towards internationalization, and to change the role of strategic investors.

The past two years, the national grid through the acquisition of shares of the relevant operators to enter Portugal and Italy such mature markets in Europe and try to acquire the shares in Greece and Spain grid. Such as the successful completion of the following transactions, expanding the portfolio, National Grid will become the first major regional power grid assets owned utility companies, to achieve the desire to establish a regional grid within five years of the European governing body of the European Union.

2012, National Grid acquired Portuguese grid operator REN 25% of the shares on July 31 this year, also signed the acquisition of the Italian state-owned financial institution wholly owned subsidiary of CDP CDP RETI 35% stake in China's largest investment finalized in Italy. CDP Reti owns 30% of the natural gas transport group Snam, and is about to get grid company Terna shares in the same proportion.

Reuters was informed by the sources, National Grid seeks 66% stake in the Greek bid grid operators ADMIE, also intends to bid for the German E.ON (E.ON) is located in the grid in northern Spain. The latter estimate could reach one billion euros.

Reuters reported that assessment, as the world's largest in terms of revenue utility company, National Grid shots careful not to get involved in a hostile takeover, and seize the opportunity to southern eurozone countries funds raised will be brought privatization of state-owned assets.

The report that compared the West Infrastructure Fund and the European grid companies, National Grid has an advantage is that the lower rate of return requirements. CEO of consulting firm Accenture's Resources Group Operations Group, Jean-Marc Ollagnier is that the EU open its doors to the national grid. One reason is that companies often do not participate in this operation, only investments.

But National Grid is not satisfied with this passive investment, may presage will strengthen intervention. The Division is responsible person said recently:

We have to invest abroad, instead of doing public good, overseas investment is flexible configuration of both domestic and international resources to domestic and foreign mutual promotion and internationalization strategy is the company's transformation of development mode of the inevitable choice.

National Grid's overseas business is really small achievements. As of June this year, the Division actual foreign investment of its own funds invested nearly $ 3 billion, with total foreign equity investment in the project over 11 billion U.S. dollars, the size of the foreign assets of over 23 billion U.S. dollars.

2009-2013, National Grid profits overseas investment business grew from less than 800 million yuan to 3.2 billion yuan, an increase of 309% , return on investment is much higher than the national level.

National Grid A person familiar with the company's overseas strategy executives also told Reuters that yields overseas projects is usually close to more than 10-10%, but only a few percent in the country.

By the end of May this year, Liu Zhenya, chairman of National Grid proposed Global Energy Internet development concept, in public speeches, that by UHV and smart grid technologies, build global energy Internet, to Asia, Europe, North America Transmission and promote global energy optimization.

 

[jouni]

Finland is currently talking, that Solidium, a state owned captital investment company, buys all the State Grids, to stop them to fall into foreign hands.

 

[amoy]

Finland is currently talking, that Solidium, a state owned captital investment company, buys all the State Grids, to stop them to fall into foreign hands.

Well a slight dose of "nationalism" and "protectionism" is justified. But just don't have it overdone. Or one day zealous outcries may arise from every corner of the world "do not let xxx fall into foreign hands" then all kinds of trade non-trade barriers result in lowering people's life quality and making globalization come to a halt.

Chinese invest in state grids of PIGS (for obvious reasons), and French investing in Chinese urban water supply utilities, and Americans in Chinese top banks. That's reciprocal.

Also on Finland Finland helps China fight smog - China - Chinadaily.com.cn

 

[amoy]

France sells airport stake to Chinese consortium | Shanghai Daily

FRANCE'S economy minister says the government is selling a 49.9 percent stake in the airport in Toulouse to a Chinese consortium looking to increase international air links in the south of France.

The Toulouse-Blagnac airport is also home to Airbus, which tests some of its aircraft there.

Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told La Depeche newspaper in an interview published yesterday that the 308 million-euro (US$381 million) stake went to the Symbiose consortium, which includes an aircraft leasing company already among Airbus' clients.

He said the airport itself — runway and buildings — would remain state property.

Macron criticized recent comments attacking the deal, saying he was having a "hard time" understanding why it's ok for the Chinese to buy planes but not part of an airport.

 

[asianobserve]

The Europeans are doing it again, first they let Russia took a decisive role in its energy security, now they are allowing China to take over their power grid.

 

[amoy]

China Eyes Greece Investment as a Staging Post for EU Operations - Greece

The Chinese state and private corporations are literally stocked with US dollars, having in excess of $4.2 trillion foreign currency reserves as of November 2014, while also being in the process of diversifying their asset portfolio from finance (the stock market, bonds and securities) to tangible, physical assets, which have suddenly become bargains around the world.

Greece, along with the rest of the Balkan states, has been eyed by Beijing for quite some time as an ideal route for commercial, industrial and other purposes into the EU. The present report sheds light to the most important companies, and some key deals being prepared between Athens and Beijing. Projects selected herein are those that seem likely to go ahead and those that enjoy substantial backing from both countries' political and business elite.

 

[no smoking]

The Europeans are doing it again, first they let Russia took a decisive role in its energy security, now they are allowing China to take over their power grid.

Your words sound like Europeans are doing favour to Russia and China in these deals.
No, my friend, the reason this happened is they can't find another offer with same price from other vendors.

 

[asianobserve]

Your words sound like Europeans are doing favour to Russia and China in these deals.

They were indeed doing favors, the Russians were definitely getting paid much higher (than what China is going to pay) for the gas they're supplying Europe. In fact the Russian supply infrastructure to Europe are mostly Cold War vintage that should offer lower cost of supply compared to the Chinese pipeline that is still to be built and thus the investment has still to be factored in on the price to China.

No, my friend, the reason this happened is they can't find another offer with same price from other vendors.

With massive state subsidy, no wonder Chinese companies can dump products on teh West.

 

[amoy]

doing favour? what a thick remark. in @asianobserve 's fancy economics, is Malaysia able to sell crude oil at $100 per barrel when the market is at $70? the supply-n-demand dictates prices, which vary fm client to client, and fm deal to deal (supposedly in confidential terms despite speculations)

nobody is doing a favor for anybody, in the business domain, either Malaysia or Russia.

and subsidy for exports? u mean Chinese printing money out of thin air to fund cheap goods for Europeans ? why not Malaysian govt do the same to boost yr economy if that's such a whoop? in the end someone has to shoulder the cost otherwise subsidies at whose expense? after all, the wool still comes from the sheep!

as a matter of fact an economy of scale is one of key differentiators for a cost edge, which Malaysia lacks for "dumping".

 

[amoy]

China's Haitong Securities in talks to buy Banco Espirito Santo unit | Reuters
China's Fosun raises bid for Espirito Santo health unit | Reuters


(Reuters) - Chinese brokerage Haitong Securities Ltd (600837.SS) (6837.HK) is in talks to buy Portuguese bank Banco Espirito Santo's (BES) investment banking unit as Chinese finance firms snap up more overseas assets to try to offset slowing growth at home.

A purchase of the bailed-out Portuguese lender's unit would be Haitong's first acquisition outside China and Hong Kong as Chinese financial companies scoop up assets of Western banks hammered by bad debts.

It would be the highest-profile overseas deal by a Chinese brokerage since Citic Securities (600030.SS) Citic, China's largest brokerage, purchased CLSA from French bank Credit Agricole SA for $1.25 billion in 2013.

Haitong said in a statement late on Thursday it's in talks to buy Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento SA (BESI), BES's investment banking arm, confirming an earlier Reuters story.

A person with direct knowledge of the matter earlier declined to disclose how much Haitong might pay for the business. The person declined to be identified as the talks were not public at the time.

Local media in Portugal have valued BESI at around 400 million euros ($493 million).

A spokesman for BESI did not offer any immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

Portugal's central bank rescued BES using 4.9 billion euros of public funds in August this year and is now seeking to recoup those funds through asset sales.

BESI, the largest investment bank in Portugal, made a net profit of 3 million euros in the first half of 2014 while its parent BES made a net loss of 3.6 billion euros in the same period, according to the company's website. BESI employs about 1,000 people and had 5.8 billion euros in assets at the end of June 2014.

Haitong raised $1.7 billion through a Hong Kong share listing in 2012. It said in the prospectus for that deal it was setting aside about 35 percent of proceeds "for strategic acquisitions of overseas securities firms and/or further expansion of our overseas securities business."

In October last year China Construction Bank Corp bought Brazil's Banco Industrial e Comercial SA (BICB4.SA), a mid-sized lender with a large portfolio of bad loans.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China bought 80 percent of Standard Bank's Argentina SA from Standard Bank London Holdings PLC SBKJSL.UL for an estimated $600 million in cash in 2011.

"It's been very rare to have the opportunity globally in the last five years to buy a controlling stake in any sizeable financial company, so it's an opportunistic buy," said Jim Antos, banking analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia.

Haitong shares were halted on Thursday ahead of the announcement. Haitong's shares have risen 44 percent so far this year in Shanghai, outpacing a 27 percent rise in the Shanghai CSI 300 index .CSI300.

 

[amoy]

Li Ka-Shing reportedly homing in on O2 UK with a £9 billion bid | TelecomTV

Britain's Sunday Times reports that Hutchison Whampoa, the telecoms empire controlled by Li Ka Shing, Hong Kong's richest man, is taking a serious crack at Telefonica-owned O2.

Reports put his bid at up to £9 billion. If successful the move would combine the UK's second largest operator with its smallest, 3, already owned by Hutchison Whampoa. With the BT bid for EE proceeding, a successful takeover of O2 would completely reshape the UK telecoms market and would see Vodafone, not too long ago the biggest UK operator, demoted to a lack-luster number three in an apparently consolidating market. 3 Group Europe owns mobile operators in Austria, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Ireland,as well as holdings in Vietnam, Macau, Sri Lanka and of course Hong Kong.

That the UK takeover buzz is continuing is not surprising - the UK O2 network is firmly up for sale due to Telefonica's dire financial straits. Telefonica last year narrowly missed selling it back to BT which is now in the process of buying the UK's largest network, EE, for £12.5 billion. EE is jointly owned by France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.

But - as is always the case - the deal won't be plain sailing. As far as we know UK regulator Ofcom is still sticking with its long-standing policy of ensuring that there will be four mobile networks (at least) in the UK market for competition reasons. The BT/EE deal looks to have slipped under the wire: although it may have created a potentially over-powerful multi-play operator, it didn't reduce the number of mobile competitors.

But in sticking with its four operator policy (if it does) Ofcom's position would run counter to that of the European Commission's digital agenda which envisages telecom consolidation across Europe. If Ofcom won't budge it's possible the case will be appealed to the European Commission. Even then, it may not be green flagged without remedial measures to compensate for the competitive deficit implied by a three operator market.

In this regard, the European Competition Commission may be a tougher nut to crack. In the most recent cases it has ordered the establishment of extra MVNOs, although the jury is still well and truly out as to whether these measures are enough to ensure proper competition.

 

[salute]

Also on Finland Finland helps China fight smog - China - Chinadaily.com.cn

@jouni
this is jouni:cheer2:.

 

[Compersion]

would have like to see idea - bharti airtel make more acquisitions overseas. they can leverage their low cost model and also delivery from india (backend). would be good if they try and tap into the more advanced economies. even into east asia some telecom operators are good targets.

 

[jouni]

@jouni
this is jouni:cheer2:.

Home / China / Society
China works with Finland to promote bio fuelUpdated: 2013-09-12 20:23 ( chinadaily.com.cn)
CommentsPrintMailLarge Medium Small
Beijing plans to cooperate with Finland in biological fuel technology in China's rural areas, a senior official said at the Beautiful Beijing Clean-tech Seminar on Tuesday.

"The construction of 'Beautiful China' cannot be completed without a beautiful countryside," said Li Junfeng, director-general of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

"I hope China and Finland can make a joint effort to popularize biological fuel in rural areas," Li said at the seminar in Beijing.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen affirmed China as its largest trading partner in Asia and is willing to share Finland's experience on how to protect the environment and promote sustainable development.

China and Finland, which is advanced in biological fuel and combined heat and power technologies, initiated the "Beautiful Beijing" project on June 20 in Helsinki, Finland.

It was jointly launched by the Chinese Ministry of Environment Protection and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

Under the project, Chinese and Finnish clean technology companies will carry out research and pilot programs in five major sectors: energy production, building construction, traffic, energy efficiency in major industries and the monitoring of air quality.

According to Li, the haze hanging over Beijing and neighboring areas largely results from the burning of coal, which is still the major power supply in rural areas of Beijing.

The city aims to reduce coal use from 23 million tons to 15 million tons by 2015.

China will invest more than 200 billion euros ($265 billion) to reduce emissions by 25 percent and improve the country's air quality in five years.

 

[jouni]

@jouni
this is jouni:cheer2:.

Home / China / Society
China works with Finland to promote bio fuelUpdated: 2013-09-12 20:23 ( chinadaily.com.cn)
CommentsPrintMailLarge Medium Small
Beijing plans to cooperate with Finland in biological fuel technology in China's rural areas, a senior official said at the Beautiful Beijing Clean-tech Seminar on Tuesday.

"The construction of 'Beautiful China' cannot be completed without a beautiful countryside," said Li Junfeng, director-general of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

"I hope China and Finland can make a joint effort to popularize biological fuel in rural areas," Li said at the seminar in Beijing.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen affirmed China as its largest trading partner in Asia and is willing to share Finland's experience on how to protect the environment and promote sustainable development.

China and Finland, which is advanced in biological fuel and combined heat and power technologies, initiated the "Beautiful Beijing" project on June 20 in Helsinki, Finland.

It was jointly launched by the Chinese Ministry of Environment Protection and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

Under the project, Chinese and Finnish clean technology companies will carry out research and pilot programs in five major sectors: energy production, building construction, traffic, energy efficiency in major industries and the monitoring of air quality.

According to Li, the haze hanging over Beijing and neighboring areas largely results from the burning of coal, which is still the major power supply in rural areas of Beijing.

The city aims to reduce coal use from 23 million tons to 15 million tons by 2015.

China will invest more than 200 billion euros ($265 billion) to reduce emissions by 25 percent and improve the country's air quality in five years.

 

[Otm Shank2]

I fully see any asian making inroads in Europe as a positive thing. Go China

 

[amoy]

UPDATE 2-Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing buys UK train company Eversholt | Reuters

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, backed by Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest man, has bought Britain's Eversholt Rail for an enterprise value of 2.5 billion pounds ($3.8 billion), the latest in a string of Asian buyers targeting European assets.

UK private equity fund 3i Infrastructure Plc said on Tuesday that it and Eversholt's other investors had sold their entire holding to the Hong Kong billionaire' s CKI group.

Eversholt owns around 28 percent of the UK's passenger trains, with 19 fleets. It is one of the UK's three leading rail rolling stock companies.

3i, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, and STAR Capital Partners with its co-investor PGGM, acquired the business for 2.1 billion pounds from HSBC in 2010.

Unlike most private equity funds, which usually hold investments for between four and six years, infrastructure funds generally hold their assets for longer periods of time as they are seen as steady, low-risk investments.

"While 3i Infrastructure generally aims to hold its Core investments over the long term, it will sell investments from time to time where this generates significant additional value for shareholders," said Peter Sedgwick, Chairman at 3i Infrastructure.

"It is in this context that we have taken the decision to sell our shareholding in Eversholt Rail."

The sale of 3i's stake will generate around 358 million pounds, it said, as well as a 15.5 million pound sum received in December. A source close to the deal said that STAR, a London investment fund manager, would make a return of 3.4 times its investment.

 

[salute]

Home / China / Society
China works with Finland to promote bio fuelUpdated: 2013-09-12 20:23 ( chinadaily.com.cn)
CommentsPrintMailLarge Medium Small
Beijing plans to cooperate with Finland in biological fuel technology in China's rural areas, a senior official said at the Beautiful Beijing Clean-tech Seminar on Tuesday.

"The construction of 'Beautiful China' cannot be completed without a beautiful countryside," said Li Junfeng, director-general of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation.

"I hope China and Finland can make a joint effort to popularize biological fuel in rural areas," Li said at the seminar in Beijing.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen affirmed China as its largest trading partner in Asia and is willing to share Finland's experience on how to protect the environment and promote sustainable development.

China and Finland, which is advanced in biological fuel and combined heat and power technologies, initiated the "Beautiful Beijing" project on June 20 in Helsinki, Finland.

It was jointly launched by the Chinese Ministry of Environment Protection and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

Under the project, Chinese and Finnish clean technology companies will carry out research and pilot programs in five major sectors: energy production, building construction, traffic, energy efficiency in major industries and the monitoring of air quality.

According to Li, the haze hanging over Beijing and neighboring areas largely results from the burning of coal, which is still the major power supply in rural areas of Beijing.

The city aims to reduce coal use from 23 million tons to 15 million tons by 2015.

China will invest more than 200 billion euros ($265 billion) to reduce emissions by 25 percent and improve the country's air quality in five years.

says who, chinadaliy which is propaganda channel of china who's news cannot be verified,

like i said you makes your basics on misinformation.

 

[jouni]

says who, chinadaliy which is propaganda channel of china who's news cannot be verified,

like i said you makes your basics on misinformation.

If it is propaganda, it is really well made, also the Chinese posters here seems to be very level headed. Maybe that is propaganda too.

 

[salute]

If it is propaganda, it is really well made, also the Chinese posters here seems to be very level headed. Maybe that is propaganda too.

maybe,chinese are excellent in that,doesnt matter to india if its propaganda or true or false.