Danish clean-tech water technology company Aquaporin has announced agreements to form a water treatment Joint Venture (JV) in China with two Chinese partners, Heilongjiang Interchina Water Treatment (Interchina) and Poten Environment (Poten), and a major equity investment in Aquaporin by Interchina and Poten resulting in a 20.1 % ownership stake.
The JV will have total equity of USD 10m of which Poten Environment, a China-based, privately held environmental protection company, will invest USD 4.5m, Heilongjiang Interchina will invest USD 2m and Aquaporin, the remaining USD 3.5m resulting in 45/20/35% ownership of the JV, respectively.
Interchina and Poten will jointly invest USD 19.5m in a 20.1% stake in Aquaporin of which USD 10.75m will be used to purchase the new shares to be issued by Aquaporin, and the remaining 8.75m to buy a stake in Aquaporin from its majority shareholder, M. Goldschmidt Capital A/S.
– Aquaporin A/S has been looking into viable models of expanding to the vast Chinese market. We have found the best possible setup with the strategic alliance with Interchina and Poten and further strengthened our collaboration and the global potential of Aquaporin’s cutting edge technology by sharing ownership with our Chinese partners, Søren Bjørn Hansen, Chairman of the Board of Aquaporin and COO and Partner in M. Goldschmidt Capital A/S said.
The business objectives of the Joint Venture Company are to develop, commercialize, and promote biomimetic membrane technologies, to develop, commercialize, manufacture and sell biomimetic membrane products, water treatment/desalination systems and other applications utilizing biomimetic membranes focusing on the Chinese market
– We have been following Aquaporin closely over the last years, The new JV will build on Poten’s and Interchina’s expertise in water treatment and environmentally sustainable solutions, our proximity to the market along with Aquaporin’s world leading technology, says Zhu Yongjun, Chairman of the board of Interchina.