BEIJING Datang Power is involved in acquiring, owning and operating power plants in northern China.

A year ago, SBC Warburg Dillon Read had a buy recommendation, saying parent North China Power planned new capacity totalling 18,000 megaWatts and Beijing Datang had first right of refusal.

This was poor advice as Beijing Datang has underperformed the Hang Seng Index by 29.59 per cent this year, falling from $3.80 to below $2.40 on Friday.