Straits Times 15 Sep 08;
THE world's first-ever green business trust, comprising solely of assets in the environmental management business, will be listed on the local stock exchange by the middle of next year.
In a statement yesterday, Keppel Corporation said that the trust will be established by its wholly owned subsidiary Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE). It will be managed by KIE's subsidiary Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management.
One of the trust's first assets will be the Senoko Incineration Plant, which the Government has decided will be divested into KIE's trust for an indicative price of $462 million.
The plant currently treats 2,100 tonnes of waste per day to produce 34 megawatts of environmentally friendly 'green' electrical energy.
The Government announced in January that it was considering selling the Senoko plant either through a newly listed infrastructure business trust or to an existing listed trust.
It said the move was aimed at encouraging competition and improving efficiency in the waste management sector through greater private sector involvement, as well as creating investment opportunities for the public to invest in the infrastructure sector.
Singapore currently has four incineration plants that treat waste to produce electricity.
Keppel added that a fifth waste-to-energy plant its subsidiary is currently building in Tuas and Asia's largest operational Newater plant at Ulu Pandan will also be considered for injection into the trust.
Both plants are built under the private-public partnership initiative and will be owned and operated by Keppel for 25 years and 20 years respectively.
Keppel said yesterday that more details of the trust's IPO and listing on the exchange will be announced in due course.
'We believe this green business trust will offer eco-friendly investors the opportunity to participate in green projects, while at the same time enjoy stable and sustainable returns,' said KIE's chief executive Chua Chee Wui.
Senoko waste plant to be sold to Keppel unit KIE
It'll be injected into infrastructure trust that may include two more plants
Chew Xiang, Business Times 15 Sep 08;
THE Senoko Incineration Plant will be sold to a unit of Keppel Corp for eventual public listing, the Singapore government announced yesterday.
The indicative price is $462 million but the final price will be determined once the plant is listed, likely by mid-2009, according to a joint statement from the Finance and Environment and Water Resources Ministries and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE), the environmental technology and engineering unit of Keppel Corp, was selected for the tender out of five bids received. A KIE unit, Keppel Seghers Engineering Singapore, will operate and maintain the plant under a long-term contract from the government.
KIE will inject the Senoko plant into a newly set-up infrastructure trust, which will subsequently be listed on the Singapore Exchange. KIE will act as sponsor and remain an investor in the trust, according to a statement from Keppel Corp, which also said that a waste-to-energy plant at Tuas being built, as well as a NEWater plant at Ulu Pandan, may also be injected into the trust in future.
Both plants are being built under public-private partnership initiatives and will be owned and operated by Keppel for 25 and 20 years respectively.
KIE chief executive officer Chua Chee Wui said: 'KIE intends to establish the trust as a listed green business trust, which will be the first of its kind in the world. It will have a global portfolio comprising primarily environmental management assets.'
The Senoko Incineration Plant, built in 1992, treats 2,100 tonnes of waste a day to produce 34 megawatts of electrical energy. It is one of four waste-to-energy incineration plants in Singapore, where all incinerable refuse is burnt.
According to its joint statement, this is the first time that a divestment exercise by the Singapore government has stipulated that the purchaser be an infrastructure business trust. 'This divestment exercise is expected to further improve efficiency in the waste management sector through greater private sector involvement. It also represents a new alternative mode that the government may choose for the divestment of its assets,' said the statement.
The government had issued a request for proposals in January this year and said then that the project was to improve efficiency through private sector involvement, as well as to allow the public to invest in the infrastructure sector.
Keppel said the tender award will have no material impact on its net tangible assets and earnings per share for the year ending Dec 31, 2008.
Keppel's proposal for divestment of Senoko Incineration Plant selected
Imelda Saad/S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia 14 Sep 08;
SINGAPORE: Operations at the Senoko Incineration Plant are to be divested. For this, the government has selected the proposal from Keppel Integrated Engineering and Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management Private Limited.
The tender is worth an estimated price of S$462 million.
A joint statement from the Finance and Environment & Water Resources Ministries and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the final price will be determined at the completion of the divestment, expected by the middle next year.
The Senoko Incineration Plant is one of four waste-to-energy incineration plants in Singapore.
It currently treats 2,100 tonnes of waste per day to produce 34 megawatts of green electrical energy.
The government issued a request for proposal in January this year to divest the Senoko plant.
The aim is improve efficiency in the waste management sector through greater private sector involvement and create opportunities for the public to invest in the infrastructure sector. A total of five bids was received for the project.
Under the new entity, the Singapore government will procure incineration services from the infrastructure trust, with operations conducted by Keppel Seghers Engineering - the environmental engineering arm of Keppel Integrated Engineering.
Keppel said it will inject the plant into a green business trust and list it, making it the first such listing in the world.
Chua Chee Wui, CEO, Keppel Integrated Engineering, said: "It will have a global portfolio comprising primarily environmental management assets.
"We believe this green business trust will offer eco-friendly investors the opportunity to participate in green projects, while at the same time enjoy stable and sustainable returns." - CNA/vm/ms
