FFWD.L Regulatory News (FFWD)

21 Jan 2008 07:01

London Asia Chinese Private Equity21 January 2008 21 January 2008 London Asia Chinese Private Equity Fund Limited ("LACPEF" or "the Fund") Investee Companies Update LACPEF, the AIM traded, China focused investment fund, is pleased to announceupdates from its PLUS listed investee company, China CDM Exchange Centre Limited("CCEC"), and Singapore listed Asia Water Technology Ltd. ("Asia Water"). CCEC Issue of Equity Following the £5 million fund raising last November, CCEC has raised a further£10 million of new money via the issue of 10 million new Ordinary Shares to DnBNOR Asset Management (Asia) Limited ("DnB"). DnB is the Hong Kong office ofNorway's largest provider of mutual funds and discretionary asset management.Following the issue, DnB owns 8.7% of CCEC's enlarged share capital. The shareswere issued to DnB at 100p per share, valuing CCEC at £115 million. Founded in 2006 and traded on the UK's PLUS stock market since December 2006,CCEC is an advisor to projects in Asia that have the potential to generatecarbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism ("CDM"). CCEC works withprojects to ensure that they meet the criteria under the CDM, then acts asbroker for the sale of the carbon credits to international buyers. Mr Kang, Chief Executive of CCEC, said: "The new capital will be used to expandour operations and enable us to take on more new projects. Our current pipelineshould generate more profits and strengthen our presence in China as a leadingplayer in the Chinese CDM market." Asia Water wins contracts and invests in project Singapore listed investee company, Asia Water, announced last week that it hasinvested in a new £22.8 million wastewater treatment project and secured a £4.1million nuclear power plant water treatment project ("the project"). Asia Water's wholly-owned subsidiary, Asia Water Investments Pte. Ltd ("AWI"),together with government-owned Wuhan City Dongxihu District DevelopmentInvestment Co., Ltd ("Wuhan City Development") will form a new subsidiarycompany, Wuhan Dongxihu, to manage the project. AWI will hold a 70% stake inWuhan Dongxihu and Wuhan City Development will own the remaining 30%. The Build-Operate-Transfer contract involves the construction of a 101km2drainage network, which includes a 73.8km sewage pipeline, eight pumpingstations and other related facilities. Upon completion, the network will linkseveral key commercial, industrial and agricultural areas in the Wuhan Dongxihudistrict. The wastewater collected will be treated by another of the Group'sassociated companies - Wuhan Hanxi Waste Water Treatment Co., Ltd ("Wuhan Hanxi"), before being discharged into a local river. Wuhan Dongxihu has beengranted an exclusive license to manage the project for a period of 25 years,including an initial construction period, which will last around 18 months. BothWuhan Hanxi and Wuhan Dongxihu will generate fees for both wastewater treatmentand wastewater collection and transportation. Asia Water has also announced that it has secured a £4.1 million water treatmentproject for the first nuclear power plant to be constructed in China that usesadvanced saltwater desalination technology. The plant will be built in Dalian,Liaoning Province, and is scheduled to open for operations by the fourth quarterof 2009. With an initial power generating capacity of 4x1,000 MW, the plantwill be the largest nuclear power plant to be built in China with such capacityin a single phase. This will be Asia Water's third nuclear power plant water treatment project,with the other two located in Shenzhen and Qinshan, and it firmly establishesAsia Water as one of the largest contractors for nuclear power plant watertreatment systems in China. Huang Hanguang, CEO of Asia Water, said: "We believe that demand for nuclearpower is expected to grow in China, underpinned by a rapidly growing economy. Asone of only three companies licensed to provide water treatment services fornuclear power plants in China, Asia Water is in an enviable position tocapitalise on its 'first to market' advantage and to secure other such projectsin this growing sector." "This latest project will strengthen further Asia Water's reputation in thepower plant generation industry. Water treatment systems for nuclear powerplants require more stringent and precise standards than traditional coal-firedpower plant water treatment systems, attesting to our superior technicalcapability. Our portfolio of nuclear projects provides strong credentials tohelp us secure more power plant projects in China and overseas." For further information please visit www.lacpefund.com, or contact: John West/Andrew Dunn Cecilia Wong Hugh FieldTavistock Communications London Asia Ltd. Collins Stewart Europe LtdTel: 020 7920 3150 Tel: +852 2251 8373 Tel: 020 7523 8350 cecilia.wong@londonasia.com About Asia Water Technology Ltd. Singapore stock market listed AWT provides total engineering solutions for waterpurification and wastewater treatment systems. Its business is primarilyconducted through its subsidiary in China, which owns its own patented coretechnologies and works closely with leading technology partners in theinternational and local water treatment arena. For more information on thecompany, please visit: www.asiawatertech.com. About China CDM Exchange Headquartered in Beijing, China, CCEC provides brokerage, advisory and researchservices relating to the reduction of greenhouse gases in Asia. It works withbusinesses and projects that generate carbon credits, and assists the projectowner to identify buyers for and sell on those carbon credits. As well asproviding advice to projects which generate carbon credits, CCEC also acts as anemissions broker and maintains its own carbon trading portfolio. It alsomanages an on-line platform for environmental commodity transactions in China.For more information on the company, please visit: www.chinacdmex.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange