Renewable

April 8 (SeeNews) - Hong Kong-based company KuangChi Science Ltd (HKG:0439) Tuesday said it has agreed to purchase a 32.58% stake in Canadian firm Solar Ship Inc for CAD 17 million (USD 13.7m/EUR 12.6m).

Solar Ship is currently working on a transport platform using its solar electric hybrid aircraft design and self-reliant building technology, which will use remote area camps powered by solar, wind and hydrogen. Such a self-reliant platform will be applied in the transportation, energy and communications fields, aiming to connect remote areas to the rest of the world. It will initially focus on Canada, China, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean.

Once fully developed, the technology will be offered to governments and international aid agencies. The aircraft is being designed to allow extreme and short take-off and landing distance, KuangChi Science explained.

As part of the investment agreement, signed on April 3, the company subscribed for a total of 79,070 new Solar Ship common shares. Also on Tuesday, they inked an option agreement, under which KuangChi Science can acquire 116,279 more common shares for CAD 25 million by 15 October 2016, thus boosting its equity stake in the target to 54.42%.

The investment and option agreements are subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

KuangChi Science is mainly active in the paper production and property investment segments. It intends to collaborate with Solar Ship to develop the transport platform, remote area camps and communication technology.

(CAD 1.0 = USD 0.803/EUR 0.738)