MND Group Strengthens Its Presence On The Chinese Market

The French industrial group MND has welcomed a delegation from Hebei, a Chinese province that will host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games. This delegation is led by Mr. ZHU Haowen, Secretary General of Hebei Province, and Mr. LI Pu, Director General of the Organising Committee for the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games for Hebei Province, accompanied by fifty-six Chinese decision-makers. This visit took place in the context of the preparation of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games and, more generally, the development of winter sports in China.

During this visit to France, MND Group and the Chinese delegation announced the signing of two partnerships.

The first is a strategic cooperation contract with the public Hebei Tourism Investment Group, which owns several ski resorts. MND and Hebei Tourism Investment are committed to a long-term partnership to jointly study the realisation of its future ski lift, snowmaking and outdoor leisure projects.

Hebei Tourism Investment is a key player in the development of tourism in Hebei province. This public group owns 71 companies in the sector and has nearly 4,000 employees. Hebei Tourism Investment invests in the following areas urban real estate, leisure, holidays, health and other forms of trade. It has two ski resorts, seven tourist sites, twenty hotel complexes and residences, etc. The development of winter sports and outdoor activities is one of the group's priorities.

The second contract is a partnership agreement with the Wanlong ski resort to create a training and testing centre for snow guns. Called the "MND Training and Test Center", this centre will welcome Chinese teams and customers for product testing and training sessions on the MND Group's snowmaking technologies. This centre will be the first of its kind in China. Over the past two years, MND has built the largest automated snow production facility in China in Wanlong, with more than 350 snow guns, optimizing snow quality and achieving significant energy savings.

Finally, MND officially launched with Bluewish Holding the construction of all outdoor leisure facilities for the new Swanlake resort, a contract that was announced in a press release on 19 September 2018.

Bluewish Holding is already very active in tourism, particularly in the hotel industry. MND will develop a sensational leisure area that will include, in addition to zip lines and high adventure parks, the all-new Fun Rail Sled Coaster, designed and developed by its subsidiary Techfun. Swanlake is located in the Zhangjiakou region, which will also host the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

"We are very honored to have welcomed Mr. ZHU Haowen, Mr. LI Pu and the decision makers who accompany them to France for the visit of our production site and our global R&D center. Our group is very active in China, where we have several major projects underway. China is a country with very strong development potential, with the next Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in 2022 as a major event in 3 years' time. This visit was an opportunity for our group to show its know-how and expertise in the development of ski resorts and tourist sites. "said Xavier Gallot-Lavallée, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the MND Group.

MND Group generates 73% of its turnover from exports and China is one of its most important markets. In 2015, MND Group created its Chinese subsidiary in partnership with the Chinese industrial group CCZMM, based in Zhangjiakhou in Hebei province, with around 40 employees. The Chinese subsidiary is mainly responsible for the assembly and installation of equipment for the local market. For each MND Group installation in China, 70% of the equipment is produced in its French sites and 30% in China. This presence allows MND Group to offer its Chinese customers even more services and responsiveness.