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State-owned Beijing Energy explores partnerships to get approval for Australia solar farm offer

A Beijingbased company is open to partnering with brand-new financiers to buy several solar farms in Australia, a business authorities stated, as it wants to please regulatory issues over the ownership of key energy assets by a. Chinese stateowned company.

Beijing Energy International Holding (BJEI), the. financial investment arm of the Chinese capital city, announced in. December that it had signed an approximately A$ 813 million ($ 535.44. million) arrangement to buy 5 solar farms throughout Australia from. Lightsource BP, a joint venture set to quickly be 100% owned by. British oil and gas giant BP.

That would relate to more than 80% of the total Chinese. financial investment in Australia last year, based upon data from KPMG and. the University of Sydney.

However the company has been waiting for approval from. Australia's Foreign Financial investment Evaluation Board (FIRB) for months,. the last step for the deal to be completed.

Warwick Smith, a prominent Australian entrepreneur who chairs. BJEI's regional subsidiary, stated the business had met all of FIRB's. regulatory requirements.

My sense of it is that it's a state-owned enterprise. however it has intentions to reduce its equity levels, so that's a. big plus in its favour, he told . It likes to see other. financiers included.

He decreased to give any information of the investors the. business was most likely to choose as partners.

The Chinese business went into Australia in 2014 when it. bought a wind farm in New South Wales state.

With the acquisition of the solar farms from Lightsource BP,. it would be the biggest owner of utility-scale solar jobs in. Australia, outpacing France's Neoen and Spain's FRV,. according to consultancy Rystad Energy.

Foreign investments into Australia in the renewables sector. have come under heavy examination as Canberra deems the electrical energy. sector to involve crucial infrastructure essential to. keeping the nation's nationwide security.

BJEI likewise has plans to buy an Australian electrical power and gas. seller CovaU, owned by TPC Consolidated Limited. That. is also awaiting a choice from FIRB, with a modified expiry. date of July 31 just a week away.

The Australian federal government has already obstructed some Chinese. investments in the rare earths and lithium sectors over the last. year.

Bilateral ties are warming, as evidenced by Chinese Premier. Li Qiang's check out to Australia in June, but experts state Chinese. financial investments in the country are not likely to go back to the recent. peak of about $11.5 billion in 2016.

China would have to consider more carefully whether the. investment is long-lasting sustainable and where it fits in the. tactical context, said Hans Hendrischke, a teacher at the. University of Sydney.

(source: Reuters)