The ownership structure of the Innovation Center Rapperswil
With the Innovation Center Rapperswil, SinoSwiss is realising a central component of its long-term strategy. The aim of this strategy is to build a bridge between Asia and Switzerland. The SinoSwiss Technopark in Chongqing forms the first pillar of this bridge. The second pillar is the Innovation Center in Rapperswil. The Innovation Center will serve as a growth portal for innovative Swiss SMEs and start-ups with the potential to expand their business activities to the Asian market, but will also offer services and facilities for Swiss start-ups and SMEs that are not tied to Asia. The SinoSwiss strategy is complemented by the international innovation competition FSBICom (formerly SSBICom), which has been successfully held annually since 2018.
The Innovation Center Rapperswil is a private-sector project that, as a diversified investment, is designed to be profitable in the long term through rental income. SinoSwiss Technopark (Switzerland) AG, which is planning, building, and will later operate the Innovation Center, is based in Rapperswil. SinoSwiss Technopark AG was founded purposefully for the Innovation Center Rapperswil so that the operator of the Innovation Center is formally anchored in the municipality and the tax revenues remain in Rapperswil. However, the idea of building a bridge to Asia is no coincidence. Because behind SinoSwiss Holding, and therefore also SinoSwiss Technopark (Switzerland) AG, is the Asian-based Fenshare Holding from Chongqing in China.
Fenshare Holding is a private company that is wholly owned by the family of Chinese businessman Zhou Zhen Hua. Zhou Zhen Hua has built up Fenshare in a true "dishwasher's career" and developed it into a profitable corporation. Today, the Fenshare Group holds a majority stake in the company Minghui Gree, which distributes air conditioning systems from the air conditioning manufacturer Gree Electric Appliance in south-west China. Gree Electric Appliance is the world's largest manufacturer of residential air conditioning systems. The second important stake held by Fenshare Holding is the Century Reliance Group, which is a supplier to Gree Electric Appliance and pre-produces individual parts for air conditioning systems. Gree Electric Appliance itself has no stake in either company. Fenshare has business relations with Gree as a sales partner and supplier but is not institutionally or strategically linked to this major company.
The Zhou family and the Fenshare Group are seeking to diversify their business activities and investments. In addition to the long-standing personal contact with Dominik Widmer, the Swiss Managing Director of SinoSwiss, this is a key reason for SinoSwiss Holding's long-term strategy of building bridges between Switzerland and Asia and investing in SinoSwiss projects.
