The Augsburg company MAN Energy Solutions has chosen a Chinese buyer for its small gas turbine division. Experts now fear that the turbines could also be used for military purposes and important technologies could be withdrawn.
It is part of the nature of companies that at some point they change strategies, expand new business lines and give up older ones because they are no longer worthwhile. In this respect, we first looked at the press release that the Augsburg energy technology company MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) sent out on June 20th of this year business as usual from: The VW subsidiary (not to be confused with the truck manufacturer MAN) sells its gas turbine business to a Chinese company called CSIC Longjiang GH Gas Turbine Co Ltd. (GHGT). However, its parent company, the shipbuilder China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), is considered, among other things, an important partner of the People’s Liberation Army and builds warships for the Chinese navy. As is usual in such cases, it is no coincidence that this announcement from June ends with the note that the sale is “subject to receipt of the necessary official approvals”. So everything could turn out differently if the Federal Ministry of Economics takes a closer look at the case.