Morgan Stanley-led group invests $150 million more in China hydropower firm

Morgan Stanley-led group invests $150 million more in China hydropower firm

By Stephen Aldred
Reuters
September 5, 2012

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/05/us-morganstanley-chinahydro-idUSBRE8840F820120905

A consortium led by a Morgan Stanley (MS.N) infrastructure fund has made
a second $150 million investment in unlisted Chinese hydropower company
Zhaoheng Hydropower Holdings Ltd, Zhaoheng said.

The consortium had made a similar-sized investment in Zhaoheng in 2010
and the combined $300 million represents the largest private investment
in China's renewable energy and hydropower sector so far, the company
said in the statement.

Other members of the consortium include China-focused fund Fountainvest
Partners and Asia buyouts fund Olympus Capital. Olympus previously
invested $47.5 million in Zhaoheng in 2009, according to a statement on
the private equity firm's website.

Zhaoheng said it plans to use the investment to buy hydropower plants
and exceed one gigawatt of operating capacity over the next two years.
The company now owns and operates over 30 hydropower plants in seven
provinces with over 650 megawatts of installed capacity.

China is the world's biggest producer of hydroelectric power, with over
200 gigawatts of installed generation capacity. China's renewable energy
law promotes growth of the hydropower sector, and the country's 12th
five-year plan calls for China to grow generation of electricity from
the sector to over 450 gigawatts by 2030.

The U.S. bank's investment in Zhaoheng is through Morgan Stanley
Infrastructure Partners, which is a $4 billion global infrastructure
fund of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure. The U.S. bank makes its
infrastructure investments through Morgan Stanley Infrastructure.

(Reporting by Stephen Aldred; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
________________________________________________

You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org

To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp