China Minsheng New Energy sets sights on 8 per cent share of China’s solar power market
Ambitious five-year plan has budget of 96 billion yuan
China Minsheng New Energy Investment, the solar and wind power unit of Shanghai-based private equity firm China Minsheng Investment, aims to boost its solar farms’ installed capacity more than sevenfold this year despite grid capacity bottlenecks that have limited generation growth in some regions.
The 18-month-old company, which competes with more established rivals backed by state-owned power generation majors for projects, also has an aggressive, five-year, 96 billion yuan (HK$114.2 billion) plan to potentially grab an 8 per cent share of the market by 2020.
Although primarily funded by its parent’s shareholders – China Minsheng Investment is backed by 59 private enterprises – CM New Energy would consider taking investment from other investors and had a long-term plan for an initial public offering, its president, Han Qinghao, said in Hong Kong on Thursday.
We do not rule out going public in Hong Kong or mainland China
“We do not rule out going public in Hong Kong or mainland China,” he said. “We have hired professionals to help us make preparations, including EY as our adviser.
“We have come to Hong Kong to have exchanges with the investment banking community and hope to get some advice on improving corporate governance.”
Han was general manager of CGN Solar Energy Development, a unit of China’s largest nuclear power projects developer China General Nuclear Power, before joining CM New Energy.
The company aims to raise its solar farms’ installed capacity from 0.4 gigawatts (GW) at the end of last year to 3GW by the end of this year, and further quadruple it to 12GW by the end of 2020, or 8 per cent of Beijing’s target for the mainland of 150GW.
Han said CM New Energy also planned to build wind farms, but did not have a clear capacity target.