UK Government Intervenes in Chinese Takeover of Shell Company Over Risks to National Grid
The UK has imposed restrictions on the Chinese takeover of a shell company worth £1, saying the move mitigates national security risks.
In a notice of final order (pdf) published on Dec. 6, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said Business Secretary Grant Shapps considers the takeover of XRE Alpha Limited by China Power International Holding Limited a risk in relation to the security of an important UK electricity asset and the security of services provided to the UK National Grid.
China Power International Holding Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s state-owned State Power Investment Corporation, will acquire 90 percent shareholding in XRE Project Alpha Limited, the Hong Kong-based parent company of XRE Alpha Limited, the notice said.
Shapps allowed the acquisition, but imposed restrictions on what information can be shared and on the management of power offtake and ancillary service provision to National Grid, saying the restrictions are “necessary and proportionate to mitigate the risk to national security.”
Since the UK’s National Security and Investment Act came into effect, the UK has issued a dozen such notices, with seven of them targeting Chinese takeovers.
Previous targets of takeovers included well-known entities such as Newport Wafer Fab, the UK’s largest microchip company, but little is known about XRE Alpha Limited and its Chinese owner.
According to information registered with Companies House, XRE Alpha Limited was registered last year with the value of £1 and remained dormant since.
Its director Xing Jin, a 48-year-old Chinese national, is also the director of five other active companies, all but one worth £1.
Xrenewable Ltd, the only company which is trading, provides data management services for renewable energy assets worldwide. The company website shows its projects included a collaboration with the University College London in relation to shared electrical bike charging piles.
A LinkedIn page for the company shows 21 employees, with 17 of them residing in China. According to data platform Pomanda, the company has a turnover of £1.3 million.
In an email to The Epoch Times, Elexon, a company that manages Britain’s electricity trading rules, said that Xrenewable Ltd had acceded to the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC)—the first step to become a non-physical trader of electricity in the UK—on June 1 last year, but had withdrawn from the BSC on Feb. 28 this year.
“Elexon does not have any contractual relations with Xrenewable Limited and the company does not do any work for us,” the statement reads.
The government does not usually comment on individual cases, and in an email to The Epoch Times a spokesperson for BEIS said, “The government is required to publish a Final Order Notice when imposing remedies on a particular acquisition and has done so.”
Xing Jin and China Power International Holding Limited didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
Chinese Investors Barred From Dual-Use Tech
The relationship between the UK and the Chinese regime has become increasingly strained following Beijing’s upending of democracy and the rule of law in Hong Kong, its reciprocal sanctioning of British politicians who are vocal critics of its human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and the beating of a Hong Kong protester by Chinese diplomats in Manchester.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a major foreign policy speech on Nov. 28 that the so-called “golden era” of the Sino–British relationship is over, and that the UK will strengthen its resilience and economic security.
The intervention in the acquisition of XRE Alpha Limited is the seventh time the UK government has stepped in using the National Security and Investment Act to block or restrict Chinese acquisitions or takeovers involving dual-use technologies or the UK’s critical assets.
On July 20, then-Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng issued an order under the new law to block Beijing Infinite Vision Technology Co. from buying vision-sensing technology from the University of Manchester.
In an Aug. 17 order, Kwarteng blocked the acquisition of Bristol-based electronic design automation company Pulsic by Super Orange HK Holding, which is reportedly controlled by Shanghai UniVista Industrial Software Group.
On Sept. 14, then-Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg imposed restrictions on the acquisition of the Stonehill project, an energy storage project in Wiltshire, by Beijing-controlled Stonehill Energy Storage Ltd. The restrictions are similar to the ones imposed on the acquisition of XRE Alpha Limited.
On Sept. 29, Rees-Mogg blocked Redrock Investment Ltd., a subsidiary of China’s state-owned State Development and Investment Corp., from accessing sensitive information about Britain’s power grid.
On Oct. 10, he imposed restrictions including information sharing on the acquisition of Ligeance Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd by Sichuan Development Holding Co., Ltd, which involves two UK-based subsidiaries, Gardner Aerospace Holdings Limited and Gardner Group Limited.
Following the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab by Chinese-owned Dutch company Nexperia, Shapps on Nov. 16 ordered the newly-named Nexperia Newport Limited to sell most of its shares, ruling the takeover had breached national security laws.
China General Nuclear was previously involved in the UK’s Sizewell C nuclear project. The UK government didn’t issue a notice of final order in relation to the investment, but gave the green light for the £20 billion project in November. Shapps said the Chinese state-owned company had been bought out of the deal.
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Lily Zhou is an Irish-based reporter focusing on UK news. Lily first joined the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times before turning her focus on the UK in 2020. Contact Lily at [email protected]
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