Nuclear News Weekly Roundup – 02/11 - 02/16

CGN Power Plans on Listing on Shenzhen Stock Exchange

CGN Power Ltd, a CGN Group subsidiary currently listed on Hong Kong stock exchange, announced on February 11th that it plans to raise up to $794 million from a domestic listing on the Shenzhen stock exchange. CGN Power will offer up to 5.05 billion shares at 1 yuan per share, an equivalent of 10% of the company’s total shares. The proposal has received approval from the company’s board but is still awaiting approval from shareholders and regulatory authorities. CGN Power said the money raised will be used for the construction of Yangjiang Units 5 & 6, as well as Fangchenggang Units 3 & 4. Payback periods are usually drawn-out for projects like NPP construction, which also requires a very high upfront investment. CGN needs the funds to increase its liquidity.

Premier Li Keqiang Met with Westinghouse VP William Poirier

Premier Li Keqiang met with foreign experts in Beijing before the Chinese Lunar New Year. William Poirier, Westinghouse’s Vice President for China Projects, was invited among 60 other attendees. While stressing that China needs to continue to open its doors to the outside world to introduce foreign expertise and technology, Li listened to the experts’ discussion about their current business in China. Poirier gave a talk about the future role of nuclear power in China.

Chinese Power Industry SOEs will Further Ownership Reform

As the 2018 new year working conferences took place for Chinese power industry SOEs, some have listed furthering ownership reforms and restructuring as one of their goals. SPIC will initiate a pilot program based on a mixed ownership reform through asset securitization and debt-to-equity swaps. Huaneng also said that it will further reform via diversification of its stock ownership. A representative of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) Peng Huagang revealed earlier that marketization of SOE operations will be carried out in a broader sense through various mechanisms, with one example being the introduction of private capital to SOE ownership.