Beyond the Three Gorges.... 2003-01-20 00:00
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(China Daily, HUO YONGZHE)
China Three Gorges Project Corp (CTGPC), a flagship State-owned company in charge of development and running of the ongoing Three-Gorges Project, is to launch a number of important reforms during 2003, aimed at building it into a gigantic business entity.
A power generation-based, diversified business group, it will penetrate into a number of sectors, including power supply, construction engineering and consulting, property management, finance and other areas of the service sector.
One of the company's most highlighted goals in the coming year is to muscle in on the stock market, with an initial public offering (IPO) of its newly founded power generation arm on the Shanghai stock exchange, a move that will help it gain access to the equity market and establish a sound system of corporate governance.
The Changjiang Power Shareholding Co, founded by the power giant and five other giant State-owned companies, is expected to pull in 3.3 billion to 4 billion yuan (US$398.5 million to 483 million) by issuing 110 million A shares, or 15 per cent of its total 650 million shares in the second half of 2003.
"Our final goal is to reshape the CTGPC into a mixed holding company at a future date," said Guo Tao, vice-president of CTGPC, which now has responsibility for operating the world's largest hydroelectric power facility.
But the launch of the holding firm will have to await the successful restructuring of its sub-companies, the first step of which will be the listing of the Changjiang Power Co, said Guo.
"The preparatory work for the milestone listing is now going well," said Guo, in a recent exclusive interview with China Daily.
"But the final amount of funds gathered via the public flotation and the timing for such an issue will still be based on the market situation. However, we believe the listing will take place before the year's end," said Guo.
He added: "We will file the IPO at the right time and the pricing of the shares will be based on the market situation at that time."
To spur performance, the company is to cut its 3,300-strong workforce by about 1,200 in the power generating unit. Those employees will, however, all be found new jobs in other areas. "We are struggling to ensure no employees are laid off during the restructuring process," said Guo.
He said one of the encouraging signs for a propitious listing has been the finalizing of the price of generated power, which stands at around 0.15 yuan per kilowatt. This will boost its performance in the market and lay to rest earlier uncertainties which had prevailed.
"We are optimistic and believe that there will be a good performance of the listing as the demand for clean power will see a continuous surge, with the rapid development of the country's economy in the coming decades," said Guo.
Rising environmental concerns have led China to take various measures to encourage the use of much cleaner hydroelectric power to replace the current coal-orientated energy structure, which has resulted in serious pollution in many regions.
At present most of the assets of the Changjiang Power Co include those of the Gezhouba Power Plant, another giant hydropower generating company neighbouring the Three Gorges Project.
But, according to Guo, new power generating facilities developed from the Three Gorges Project will all be injected step by step into the listed section through a future secondary offering and follow-up offerings.
The progress of the purchase will be based on the market performance and the progress of the development of the project itself.
"Ultimately, the listed company will include all the assets of our core business, namely power generation," said Guo.
The year 2003 marks the final year of the Phase II period of the ongoing construction of the Three Gorges Project, which will see the debut of power generation, increased water storage and new shipping capacity on the Yangtze River. It represents a crucial stage for the success of the enormous project which began in 1994.
Two power generators are set to begin operation in the latter half of the year, with a planned capacity of 1.40 million kilowatts.
"We are going to be ahead of our schedule, the first two power generators are expected to begin operation in August, followed by two more generators before the year's end," said Guo.
New dams to be built
By 2005 construction of two new giant dams will start on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, which means two more giant hydropower stations in the future, which have the potential to match the power generating capacity of the Three Gorges Project.
The two new dams will be established on the Jinsha River, which is actually the upper reaches of the Yangtze, in Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba in the mountainous regions of Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
"The feasibility studies of these two giant projects have been completed and were forwarded to the regulators in June and have been given the nod from the central government," said Guo.
"It is part of our strategy to realize a self-reliant, ongoing programme of development of power generation," said Guo.
The aim of the projects is to provide fresh and clean energy supplies to power the country's Grand Western Development programme, billed as one of China's most important social and economic development programmes in the first half of the 21st century and one which will narrow the imbalance of development between different areas.
These two projects, with an annual power generating capacity of 90 billion kilowatts, will become the major powerhouses of China's energy restructuring.
Restructuring of construction sectors
The restructuring and listing of the power generating firm will herald the complete corporate reform of its construction engineering firm at the appropriate time in 2003.
"One of the most important side-effects of the Three Gorges Project is that it helps us establish a strong base for hydro-power project development, and the firm will be very competitive in both domestic and foreign markets," said Guo.
The construction firm is expected to become an independent market-orientated company, applying Western-style modern corporate governance methods and with the ultimate goal of becoming a publicly listed firm.
"But we are not in a hurry to make it a shareholding firm by attracting other investors, as the existing market has provided every scope for the firm to grow," said Guo.
Another highlighted sector on which the company will expend much effort is its non-core service sector, which is set to be restructured and turned into an independent enterprise.
"We are now making active attempts to expand our business into more diversified businesses," said Guo. The service sector business will be amalgamated into and operate under the name of Changjiang Industrial Co.
Referring to the development of its other service sector industries which are in the process of being restructured, Guo said several key sectors will be highlighted, including tourism, consultancy and logistics.
"The travel sector is among the most important of services that we are determined to develop with the construction of the Three Gorges Project," said Guo. "I believe that the positive impact outweighs the negative in respect of both ecological and economic development of this region," said Guo, referring to the relocation of the million or so locals from poor rural areas who have been given new homes in neighbouring provinces.
"It sped up the poverty alleviation process of the region," he added.
Public bidding extended
In addition to providing an increased and cleaner power supply, one of the other benefits of the project, said Guo, is that it has propelled China's manufacturing and design capacity of power generating equipment.
Deals with Siemens and Alctel for the first batch of 14 power generators requires technology transfer to domestic partners and joint production of at least one-third of the total products.
A further round of international public bidding, which allows both domestic and foreign rivals to compete, will be held in respect of the remaining planned 12 generators.
"The timing of the bidding has not been finalized, but it will possibly be in 2003," said Guo.
Better fund management
Better management by its finance arm of the huge funds is also a key concern for the giant company.
With a total budget of 203.9 billion yuan (US$24.51 billion), Guo said the final cost of the project will be around 180 billion yuan (US$21.73 billion) by 2009, a significant reduction on the initial forecast.
Of the original financing plans, around 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) is from government coffers, 30 billion yuan (US$3.62 billion) by way of loans from the China Development Bank, while 70 billion yuan (US$8.45 billion) will be income raised from power generated by the power plants.
Market growth has, however, made it possible to get funds at much lower costs. "We are planning to issue more corporate bonds, worth 20-30 billion yuan (US$2.41 to 3.62 billion), following the original plan of 15 billion yuan (US$1.81 billion) in corporate bond issues by 2009, based on our funding requirements at different stages," said Guo.
As of today, the company has issued a total of 16 billion yuan (US$1.93 billion) in corporate bonds.
Referring to the expansion of its finance arm, Guo said: "The plan (for its growth) is still under review and is not finalized, but we all believe that there are huge growth opportunities."
Established in 1997, the finance arm is responsible for managing around 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) annually for the Three Gorges Project. In the weeks and months ahead "we will be taking steps into the financial arena," said Guo, adding, "there are some companies in contact with us."
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