Who is the local businessman behind the Chinese green hydrogen deal for Malaga?

The outbound journey just undertaken by Chinese company Hygreen Energy to Malaga with the aim of installing its first European electrolyser factory in the city is the return journey of a Malaga native who has been away from his homeland for three decades.

Javier Romero left Malaga "32 years ago" - he remembers it exactly - to study law and economics at Deusto. When he finished those studies he went to the United Kingdom to do an MBA and from there to Washington to work at the World Bank. He then jumped to investment banking and spent many years living in London. Then in 2007 he went to Shanghai, where he founded his own investment fund, Chinalink ESG, with the aim of investing in companies "in the technology, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, biotechnology, smart cities, renewable energy and sustainable mobility sectors."

"We invest in companies that work in areas related to sustainability, but with a technological accent," said Romero. Always, he added, taking advantage of his knowledge of the Asian market. He selects Chinese companies to help them internationalise or vice versa for companies seeking to enter the Asian market. Among the companies he invests in there was, for example, Sungrow Power, a producer of inverters, batteries and energy storage for solar plants that is now listed on the stock exchange with a value of 30 billion. Another recent example is the American biotech Chase Therapeutics, which is developing a neuroprotective drug against Parkinson's disease and is currently in phase 3 of clinical trials in China and looking towards Europe.

Another of the companies financed by Chinalink is Hygreen Energy, the company that is going to promote several major industrial investments in Andalucía with the idea of creating a green hydrogen hub. The fund chaired by the businessman from Malaga has been its second biggest shareholder since 2021 and he himself is one of the three members of its board of directors. From here it is easier to understand why a Chinese company has chosen Malaga to set up its first European factory. "Hygreen is one of the world's largest manufacturers of electrolysers but it had no presence outside China. We chose to manufacture in Europe for two reasons: to be closer to our customers and to avoid possible tariff barriers for our product in the European and US markets," he explained.

To set up Hygreen's European subsidiary, Javier Romero recruited his friend Marcelino Oreja, formerly in politics as an MEP for Spain's Partido Popular, who was then working at Enagás. Romero himself took the helm of Hygreen Energy España as CEO, initiating the exploratory studies to choose the location for what will be the largest electrolyser factory in Europe. Malaga was the chosen city and, after a few months of back and forth, in September Romero will move with his family from Shanghai to Malaga.

"I really, really want to move back," he admitted. His wife is Chinese and his children, now teenagers, have lived practically their whole lives there. Still, they speak perfect Spanish and Romero hopes that they will all adapt well to Malaga, where their parents, two of their siblings and many other relatives and friends are waiting for them.

After so many years away, Romero believes that Malaga has changed "spectacularly". "It has become the third cultural centre of the country and a focus capable of attracting top-level technology companies," he said. The businessman said that with the Hygreen project he hopes that Malaga "will take another step" in the "virtuous circle" it has entered. He gives as an example the announcement to set up IMEC, the most important centre in the world for research, design and manufacture of semiconductors, which in his opinion will have a "brutal tractor effect" (laying the groundwork for business success). "I sincerely believe that the best is yet to come," he added. He himself has more projects in the pipeline for Malaga that he cannot reveal at the moment.

If Hygreen's projects become a reality Malaga will gain a prominent position in the European green hydrogen market and will take an important step towards its long-awaited reindustrialisation. Romero goes further and believes that Andalucía has an "historic opportunity" to become "the European centre not only for renewable energies but also for microprocessors, data centres and other technology companies looking to be close to clean energy sources."