Water services company looking to acquire several clean technology firms

Beijing Capital Co Ltd, the largest water service company in China, said on Thursday that it would consider acquiring overseas clean technology firms to meet the country's urgent needs in sewage and solid waste treatment.

"Overseas mergers and acquisitions will be our strategy in the future," Jiang Han, deputy general manager of Beijing Capital, told China Daily.

"We are looking for companies with cutting-edge technologies, especially those in developed countries."

Jiang made the comments on Wednesday during Water Expo China 2015, a three-day industry fair in Beijing organized by the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society and Germany-based exhibition company Messe Frankfurt Co.

A report by Reuters said Beijing Capital is bidding with two other Chinese companies to acquire Energy from Waste, a German waste management company.

If successful, the deal, for which Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd, China Everbright International Ltd and Beijing Capital have all submitted initial bids, would mark the country's biggest outbound deal valued at 1.5 billion euros to 2 billion euros ($1.6 billion to $2.1 billion).

Beijing Capital was not immediately available for comments.

The Beijing-based company, specializing in urban water supply, wastewater treatment and waterworks construction, has stepped up its pace of overseas acquisitions recently amid mounting pressure caused by the country's complex pollution problems.

Last year, the company struck a deal worth 3 billion yuan to acquire the largest waste management company in New Zealand from Australia's Transpacific Industries Group Ltd.

Currently, Beijing Capital is working on technology absorption, which is expected to be applied in the Chinese market soon, Jiang said.

This year, the company bought a Singapore-based solid waste company to upgrade its technology in the waste management sector.

The deals come at a time when China has to deal with many complicated problems ranging from water pollution to the treatment of a huge amount of waste buried around China's major cities.

China aims to convert 30 percent of its rubbish to electricity by 2030, up from less than 5 percent now. But a lack of technologies has hindered the government's efforts, experts said.

"China is rolling out more clean policies to protect water resources and reduce solid waste, and I think these technologies will help the country address these problems," said Yu Qiyang, secretary-general of Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society.

He said the water and waste management markets will witness steady growth and more M&A deals will bring consolidation to the industry.