Singapore-based Armstrong Asset Management has received a fourth commitment of a USD20 million investment for its Armstrong South East Asia Clean Energy Fund from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to add to its first close of USD65 million.
The fund, a newly established, independent private-equity vehicle providing development capital to small-scale renewable energy and resource efficiency projects in Southeast Asia, is targeting a final close of USD150 million by August 2013.
India’s second largest power company, Tata Power, may look around for partners to help it double its renewable energy generating capacity over the next five years, according to a Bloomberg report.
China's LDK Solar (LDK) is upgrading its production lines at it Mahong polysilicon facility with CNY440 million (USD71 million) loan. The second-biggest maker of wafers used to make solar cells, received approval for the loan from China Development Bank, the second since 2010.
World Bank group member International Finance Corporation (IFC) has created a USD280 million IFC Catalyst Fund to address issues related to climate change.
In what must surely been seen as a desperate measure to prop up its balance sheet Chinese photovoltaic manufacturer LDK Solar, which is more than USD3.1 billion in debt, has agreed to sell about a stake of about 12 percent to Hong Kong-based investor Cheng Kin Ming for USD31 million.
The French development agency's development finance agency, Proparco, is looking to invest USD10 million in RenewGen Enviro Ventures India. The announcement, carried by the Times of India, is the latest in a series of financing deals the for Bangalore-based company focusing in the waste-to-energy (WTE).
In an effort to get around possible US federal government concerns about a takeover of sophisticated battery maker A123, Wanxiang is planning to buy the majority of the company through a trust structure, according to the Financial Times.
With governments in industrial nations slashing subsidies for technologies ranging from wind turbines to solar power and biomass, clean energy investment slid 11 percent last year.
However, booming solar and wind installations were still seen in countries like South Africa, Japan and most importantly, number-one spender China, according to data released yesterday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).
Korean solar company Hanwha SolarOne has raised USD100 million in three-year bonds, in another cash-raising exercise. It follows getting a USD475 million credit agreement with the Bank of Beijing last month, as questions must be raised over the health of the company's operating cash flow. It has been on a acquisition trail recently, including winning the takeover battle for control over Q-Cells late last year.
Showa Shell, the Japanese refining unit of Royal Dutch Shell and the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), have agreed to set up a venture to finance utility-scale solar power plants in Japan.
China water treatment and recycling company United Envirotech has received another USD40 million in investment from KKR. The US private equity giant agreed to buy shares in the Singapore-listed firm at an 8.5 percent premium, giving it 20.6 percent of the company.
A fund set up to help small-scale sustainable businesses for India's poor has secured over USD8 million from international investors including Khosla Ventures. The Unitus Seed Fund (USF), operates out of Bangalore and Seattle and plans to make equity investments in 30-40 early-stage “BoP startups” in India over the next four years.
A Singapore-based infrastructure fund with renewable energy interests has surpassed its USD500 million funding target with commitments of USD647 million.
SMA Solar – the world’s biggest maker of PV inverters – has cemented its position in the increasingly vital Chinese market by taking a majority stake in a local business.
Nasdaq-listed Hanwha SolarOne has secured a USD475 million one-year credit line from the Bank of Beijing to boost its business in China. Each individual project drawdown on the loan is subject to conditions and approval by the bank, according to the company.
Developing nations, led by China, are demanding a detailed timetable for the USD100 billion a year in climate aid that is to be made available in 2020 and beyond under the Green Climate Fund agreed at the 2009 COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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