Asia Tiger - soon to be renamed The Think Environmental Co Ltd - is exploring ways to fund its change of stripes.
After announcing a shift in focus from office equipment manufacturing to renewable energy, chief executive Tan Kuan Hong said yesterday the company is considering rights offerings and convertible bonds, among other things, to finance transition projects.
‘We will keep our funding options open,’ he said.
Over the next three years, the company expects to build 20 waste-to-energy sites across the United Kingdom, which will cost an average of £7 million per site.
Three of these sites are expected to be built by the end of this year and at least another five sites are to be completed next year.
The group’s results for the first-half ended Sept 30 showed it had about $11.3 million in cash and cash equivalents.
While the source of funding may not be immediately clear, the group’s change in strategy is explicit.
‘The major driver of our revenue is still from manufacturing office equipment, but that will change quite drastically over the next few years,’ Mr. Tan said.
The plants in the UK - which are to be run by Think Greenergy, in which Asia Tiger has a 21 per cent stake - are expected to bring in combined revenue of £198 million a year.
Currently, office equipment manufacturing operations, which account all of the company’s revenue, stand at about $50 million a year.
The pie that Asia Tiger is positioning itself to slice is a big one.
Gerard Reynolds, an adviser to the company, estimates the waste-to-energy market in the UK to be conservatively worth about £1.5 billion.
Asia Tiger expects to find itself in the enviable position of being paid for raw waste material as it offers an alternative to disposal at landfills that is 10-15 per cent cheaper. The sale of the resulting fuel gas to energy suppliers will also be a stream of revenue.
After navigating the industry in the UK, the group intends to take the concept to China.
‘Even without the UK’s incentive structure, the model will still work. There are mountains of waste in China,’ said Mr. Reynolds.
All 13 of Beijing’s landfill plants will be full in the next four to five years, according to current estimates.
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Asia Tiger prowls for fund-raising options
By JOYCE HOOI
02 December 2009
Asia Tiger - soon to be renamed The Think Environmental Co Ltd - is exploring ways to fund its change of stripes.
After announcing a shift in focus from office equipment manufacturing to renewable energy, chief executive Tan Kuan Hong said yesterday the company is considering rights offerings and convertible bonds, among other things, to finance transition projects.
‘We will keep our funding options open,’ he said.
Over the next three years, the company expects to build 20 waste-to-energy sites across the United Kingdom, which will cost an average of £7 million per site.
Three of these sites are expected to be built by the end of this year and at least another five sites are to be completed next year.
The group’s results for the first-half ended Sept 30 showed it had about $11.3 million in cash and cash equivalents.
While the source of funding may not be immediately clear, the group’s change in strategy is explicit.
‘The major driver of our revenue is still from manufacturing office equipment, but that will change quite drastically over the next few years,’ Mr. Tan said.
The plants in the UK - which are to be run by Think Greenergy, in which Asia Tiger has a 21 per cent stake - are expected to bring in combined revenue of £198 million a year.
Currently, office equipment manufacturing operations, which account all of the company’s revenue, stand at about $50 million a year.
The pie that Asia Tiger is positioning itself to slice is a big one.
Gerard Reynolds, an adviser to the company, estimates the waste-to-energy market in the UK to be conservatively worth about £1.5 billion.
Asia Tiger expects to find itself in the enviable position of being paid for raw waste material as it offers an alternative to disposal at landfills that is 10-15 per cent cheaper. The sale of the resulting fuel gas to energy suppliers will also be a stream of revenue.
After navigating the industry in the UK, the group intends to take the concept to China.
‘Even without the UK’s incentive structure, the model will still work. There are mountains of waste in China,’ said Mr. Reynolds.
All 13 of Beijing’s landfill plants will be full in the next four to five years, according to current estimates.
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