China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) is taking over nuclear power plant builder China Nuclear Engineering & Construction (CNEC).
Approval for the takeover was announced by the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) on 31 January in a statement posted on its website.
In a filing later the same day, CNEC’s listed unit said its controlling shareholder would be CNNC after the deal. The assets of the combined company will total more than CNY620bn ($99bn) with a workforce of almost 150,000, according to Reuters.
By creating a unified domestic series of reactors, and combining firms, China is positioning itself to bid for and finance overseas projects, experts said.
“[The] merger … will give the new company vast financial firepower to take on the significant capital costs involved in developing new nuclear reactors – both domestically and abroad,” Georgina Hayden, head of power and renewables at BMI Research, told Reuters.
Both CNNC and CNEC have built nuclear plants overseas, including in Pakistan, and developing Chinese nuclear technology abroad is one of China’s key goals.
