ADB to finance water sector
Bank earmarks US$500m to develop distribution systems across the mainland
The Asian Development Bank plans to give US$500 million in loans to develop China's water sector, according to Hisaka Kimura, ADB's East Asia head of private sector infrastructure finance.
The sum includes a US$100 million syndicated loan to China Waters Affairs, a Hong Kong-listed water treatment firm. Besides ADB, 18 banks are involved in the loan, including Hang Seng Bank, Bank of East Asia and Royal Bank of Scotland.
"Water distribution is a new frontier for private sector participation in Asia. A prime objective of the loan is to share our development mission with banks," Kimura said yesterday.
The syndicated loan was oversubscribed more than two times, said Guy Wylie, RBS head of Asia-Pacific primary markets. "This is unprecedented in my 20 years of experience and is the most widely syndicated ADB loan in Asia."
China Water would use the loan to buy, upgrade, expand and operate water systems in small and medium-sized cities on the mainland, benefiting about five million customers, the company said.
Over the next three years, China Water would put US$100 million per year into mainland water operations, as it had done in the past few years, China Water chairman Duan Chuanliang said.