Chinese power company CLP Holdings Ltd, based in Hong Kong, has won a bid to acquire a 17% stake in Yangjiang Nuclear Power Company Ltd from China General Nuclear (CGN). CLP announced it had submitted a CNY5bn ($726m) bid to buy the stake on 31 October, and the transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2017.
CGN said earlier in October that it planned to sell the stake in its part-owned subsidiary through a public tender process, due to end on 2 November. Yangjiang Nuclear, which owns and operates the Yangjiang NPP in Guangdong province, is owned 46% by CGN Power, 30% by CGN Power subsidiary GNIC, 7% by CGN Power associate company CGN Industry Investment Fund Phase I, and 17% by Guangdong Yudean Group. CLP originally agreed in July 2010 to take a 17% stake in Yangjiang, but negotiations were stopped in September 2013 following delays in China’s post-Fukushima nuclear safety review.
CLP said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 1 December that it had entered into a conditional equity transfer agreement with CGN to acquire the 17% stake in Yangjiang Nuclear. The 17% stake comprises 12% held by CGN Power and 5% by GNIC. Completion of the transaction is subject to various conditions, including approvals of Chinese regulators. Although the latest date for completion under the equity transfer agreement is the end of 2017, CLP said the companies are aiming for the first half of next year.
Six Chinese designed units are planned for the Yangjiang site. The first four units are 1,080MWe CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors, while units 5 and 6 will be ACPR-1000s. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in March 2015, with units 2 and 3 following in June 2015 and January 2016, respectively. All six should be in operation by 2019. CLP said it expects to invest some CNY7bn, including the CNY5bn bid price, in Yangjiang Nuclear until all six units at the Yangjiang plant have been commissioned.
