Energy Joint Venture

Two Chinese energy giants, China Shenhua Energy Co. and GD Power Development Co., have agreed to integrate their coal-fired entities and assets to form a joint venture.

With a registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($1.58 billion), the joint venture will focus on power and heat generation and sales, according to a statement posted on the website of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) on March 5.

GD Power Development Co. will take a 57.47-percent stake in the joint venture, while China Shenhua will hold the remaining 42.53 percent.

The joint venture will have a total installed power generation capacity of 66.29 million kilowatts in operation, with another 10.86 million kilowatts under construction, according to the statement.

The move marked a major step taken by the two companies to consolidate their businesses after their merger in August 2017 as SASAC works to restructure the country’s state-owned enterprises to improve efficiency. on March 6.

During the same period, 6,257 corporate bankruptcy cases were concluded by courts, up 73.7 percent year on year, the SPC said.

The top court requires nationwide courts to accept all bankruptcy petitions and issue written confirmation of their receipt in an effort to facilitate market-oriented bankruptcy and boost high-quality economic growth, it said.

Bankruptcy reorganization has helped companies facing bankruptcy that still had value and hopes to reemerge, while bankruptcy liquidation has helped weed out “zombie enterprises,” or unprofitable firms burdened with debt, mismanagement or overcapacity, said Liu Guixiang, a senior official with the SPC.

By the end of 2017, 97 courts had established liquidation and bankruptcy tribunals to facilitate the trial and settlement of bankruptcy cases. In early 2015, only five courts in China had such tribunals.