Carrier Asia signs air-conditioner JV with China's Midea

GUANGZHOU, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Carrier, the world's largest provider of heating and air-conditioning solutions, signed a joint venture with Midea, China's biggest home appliances exporter, hereon Wednesday to produce air conditioners in the southern Guangdong Province.

Carrier Asia, a unit of Carrier, holds a 40 percent stake in the new venture with a registered capital of 200 million yuan (about 28 million U.S. dollars), according to the deal.

The deal was a significant move for Carrier's global strategy, said Geraud Darnis, CEO of Carrier, headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut, USA.

The joint venture, to be based in Foshan City, is expected to kick off production by the end of this year when it will add 1.4 million units of production capacity to Carrier. Last year, its global production was 11 million units.

The partners aimed to lift the annual production to 2.5 million in five years, which would mean revenue of up to 5 billion yuan for the new company. It will focus on manufacturing and assembling air conditioners for both residential and commercial uses.

Fang Hongbo, Guangdong Midea Electric Appliances Co. Ltd president, said the company's global sales network and brand effect would help improve the product value of China-made electric appliances.

In February, Midea formed another joint venture with Toshiba Carrier to manufacture refrigerator compressors. The company, 95 percent owned by Midea, was planned with an annual production capacity of 5 million compressors in the eastern Anhui Province.