Chinese group buying 40% of Ansaldo Energia

Asian conglomerate establishes joint ventures with Italian firm

(ANSA) - Genoa, May 8 - Shanghai Electric Group signed a deal Thursday to buy 40% of power engineering firm Ansaldo Energia for 400 million euros. The deal includes two joint ventures in China for the production of gas turbines for Asian markets and was witnessed by Premier Matteo Renzi who visited Ansaldo during a trip to its head office in Genoa.

A research centre in China is also part of the deal. In the past, Ansaldo Energia had been a target for several firms, including a South Korean company, before about 85% of Ansaldo was sold by Italian defence giant Finmeccanica to the state-owned Italian Strategic Fund (FSI) late last year.

Last September, published reports suggested that South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries was near to reaching an agreement with Finmeccanica to buy Ansaldo Energia. Sources at that time had suggested a price as high as 1.4 billion euros for Ansaldo in its entirety.