IMEEI to buy a 98.87% stake in two Chinese solar companies
IM No. 3 Power Co., part of infrastructure company Inner Mongolia Energy Engineering (IMEEI), is to buy a 98.87% stake in Wulate Qianqi Photovoltaics for $73.25m. The company will also buy a 100% equity stake in Alashan Youqi New Energy, which develops solar materials and energy storage materials.
As China has begun to close the technology gap, opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers may lie closer to home, offering conditions that could perfectly suit the high efficiency technology.

IM No. 3 Power Co., a wholly owned unit of Hohhot-based energy infrastructure specialist IMEEI, will buy a 98.87% stake in Wulate Qianqi Photovoltaics from the 48th Research Institute for CNY 139.3 million.

It will also purchase a 100% equity stake in Alashan Youqi New Energy for CNY 24.3 million from the same company, which develops PV projects and produces energy storage materials, integrated circuits, LED products, magnetic materials and sensors. As part of the transaction, IM No. 3 Power will also settle the debts of the two acquisition targets, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Solar developer Wulate Qianqi Photovoltaics owns a 50 MW solar project at an undisclosed location in China. The array was connected to the grid in late 2014. PV investor Alashan Youqi New Energy, meanwhile, owns a 10 MW solar installation at another unspecified location in China. It was connected to the grid in March 2015.

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IMEEI launched its PV investment business in 2015. By the end of May 2016, it filed for the rights to build 4.3 GW of solar capacity, according to a statement on its website. The group — which also develops solar thermal, wind and coal-fired power projects — recorded a net profit of CNY 243.6 million in the first half of 2017.

Its construction contracting business posted a gross profit of CNY 117.5 million, up 31.7% year on year. The company said its PV business helped to raise its gross profit margin considerably in the first six months of the year. It has not revealed how much operational solar capacity it owns.