HONG KONG --
Morgan Stanley and a pair of private equity funds boosted their
investment in Zhaoheng Hydropower Holdings Ltd., buying a $150 million
stake as China pushes utilities to adopt non-fossil fuel sources of
energy.
The Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Fund,
FountainVest Partners Co. and Olympus Capital Holdings Asia, made the
investment last month, according to a press release issued today.
Zhaoheng Hydropower plans to use the funds to acquire hydropower plants
and boost its operating capacity to more than one gigawatt over the next
two years, from more than 650 megawatts now, according to the
statement.
China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, is pushing
utilities to increase generation from alternative sources as it seeks
to curb reliance on coal and oil. The country aims to get 15 percent of
its energy from non-fossil fuels by 2020, and has a target to cut carbon
emissions per unit of gross domestic product by as much as 45 percent
by the end of the decade.
The three firms also invested $150 million in Zhaoheng
Hydropower in December 2010, according to the statement. Zhaoheng
Hydropower was the first investment in China by the Morgan Stanley
Infrastructure Fund, James Chern, a Hong Kong- based executive director
at the fund, said in a phone interview. The fund manages $4 billion
which it raised in 2007, he said.
China’s dams produced 21 percent of the nation’s total
electricity last month, compared with 16 percent a year earlier, data
from the China Electricity Council show.
China Three Gorges Corp., the the world’s biggest dam
operator, agreed in December to pay 2.69 billion euros ($3.5 billion)
for 21 percent of EDP-Energias de Portugal SA to gain access to wind and
hydropower assets from Europe to the U.S. That month, the company also
agreed to pay HK$2.1 billion ($270 million) for 29.1 percent ofrenewable-energy producer China Power New Energy Development Co.
Copyright 2012 Bloomberg
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/09/morgan-stanley-group-invests-150 -million-in-zhaoheng-hydropower
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