Foreign media: State Grid of China acquires 49 shares of Oman Power Grid

　　Reference News Network reported on December 18th that the Financial Times website reported on December 16th that China State Grid has agreed to acquire 49% of the shares of Oman State Grid Corporation, a subsidiary of Oman State Power Holding Group.

According to the report, State Grid said in a statement on the 16th that this acquisition - China's largest single investment far ahead in this Middle East country - will promote China's "the Belt and Road" initiative, which aims to build and invest in infrastructure in Eurasia and extend all the way to the edge of Europe.

According to reports, the Beijing based power supplier did not provide any financial details, but insiders said that the company will pay about $1 billion (about 7 yuan per US dollar) to purchase shares of Oman State Grid Corporation.

According to the report, data from the US company Refinitiv shows that in 2016, State Grid made seven global acquisitions with a total expenditure of $8.4 billion. State Grid agreed to acquire a controlling stake in CPFL Energy, Brazil's largest power distribution company, and a significant stake in the Greek power grid operator in the same year. The company is currently operating networks in Italy, Portugal, and Australia.

But since 2017, many Chinese companies have slowed down their pace of overseas acquisitions.

According to data from Refinitiv, Chinese companies have invested a total of only $50 million in Oman over the past 10 years.

According to the report, the State Grid called the transaction with Oman as part of China's "the Belt and Road" initiative. According to this plan, Chinese companies have built urgently needed bridges and ports in multiple developing countries.

The "the Belt and Road" initiative includes a number of agreements reached with Middle East countries, including an investment fund of 10 billion US dollars planned to be launched jointly with the Kuwaiti government. Iraq announced in September that it would join the initiative.

Source: Reference News Network