Greencool takes stake in Meiling
2/6/2003 17:52
Refrigeration system developer Greencool Group has become Meiling
Electronic Appliance Group's largest shareholder after a purchase of 82.85
million state owned shares of the fridge manufacturer for 207 million yuan
(US$25 million), the company announced yesterday in Hefei, Anhui
Province.
Greencool now holds 20.03 percent of shares in Meiling, today's
Beijing Youth Daily reported.
The deal is another step in the company's
plan for China's refrigerator market, market analysts pointed out.
Last
October, it acquired 20.6 percent of shares in another leading fridge
manufacturer in China, Kelon Group, for 560 million yuan, becoming the largest
shareholder.
The two fridge makers output a combined 8 million products
each year, accounting for nearly 60 percent of China's total.
With a
capacity of 25 million products, China outputs 14 million refrigerators each
year and sells about 10 million in China.
"We plan to sell more than five
million refrigerators in two years and seize more than half of China's market,"
said Gu Weijun, Greencool's senior official. He said the remaining five million
would be exported.
With sales growing at five percent a year, the average
fridge prices in China decline by a yearly four percent, the Beijing Youth Daily
report said.
Jane Chen / Shanghai Daily news
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