The move comes amid simmering tensions in the Chinese leadership over corruption and mismanagement in the power sector, which culminated with the former chairman of SPC, Gao Yan, fleeing the country to avoid charges of corruption.
According to a report in the official China Daily newspaper, SPC will be broken up into five power generation companies and two grid companies. Currently, SPC controls more than half of China's power plants and almost all of its electricity transmission grids.
The announcing of the restructure plan resulted in the three Chinese power firms listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange - Huaneng Power, Beijing Datang and Shandong International Power - all posting strong gains yesterday.
