Foreign media: State Grid of China acquired 49 shares of Oman Power Grid
On December 18, Reference News reported that the Financial Times website reported on December 16 that China National Grid had agreed to acquire 49% of the shares of Oman National Grid Corporation under Oman State owned Power Holding Group.
It is reported that the State Grid Corporation of China said in a statement on the 16th that the acquisition, the largest single investment by China in this middle east country, will promote China's "the Belt and Road" initiative, which aims to build and invest in infrastructure in Eurasia and extend all the way to the edge of Europe.
It is reported that the Beijing based power supplier did not provide any financial details, but people familiar with the matter said that the company would pay about $1 billion ($1, about 7 yuan) to buy the shares of Oman State Grid Corporation.
According to the report, data from Luftwaffe showed that in 2016, State Grid made seven global acquisitions, with a total expenditure of 8.4 billion dollars. State Grid agreed to buy the controlling right of CPFL Energy, the largest distribution company in Brazil, and a considerable equity of Greek grid operator in this year. The company also currently operates networks in Italy, Portugal and Australia.
However, since 2017, many Chinese companies have slowed down the pace of overseas acquisitions.
According to Luft's data, in the past 10 years, Chinese enterprises have invested only 50 million dollars in Oman.
It is reported that State Grid regards the transaction with Oman as part of China's "the Belt and Road" initiative. According to this plan, Chinese enterprises have built badly needed bridges and ports in many developing countries.
The "the Belt and Road" initiative includes a number of agreements reached with Middle East countries, including the planned $10 billion investment fund jointly launched with the Kuwaiti government. Iraq announced in September that it would join the initiative.
Source: Reference News Network
