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Clean investing good business

By Zhang Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-20 07:57

Beijing-based financing firm, ClearWorld, focuses on green energy projects, a sector the company says will continue to see more investment despite a slowing global economy.

"Venture capital and private equity investors are paying more attention to the clean-tech sector," said Alex Westlake, one of ClearWorld's founders.

"It's a big trend, simply because there are significant opportunities," said Westlake.

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Although VC and PE companies' spending has tapered lately, they are still sinking increasing amounts into the green energy, according to a recent report by market researcher Zero2IPO.

The Zero2IPO report said the Chinese mainland saw VC and PE investment in clean energy technology surge 120 percent year-on-year to $1.3 billion in 2008 despite the economic slowdown.

ClearWorld acts have an operational investment firm, putting money into assets, new technologies or companies (such as carbon credit portfolio company Camco) to accelerate the adoption of clean energy in China, said Westlake.

"If we see a new sector or technology that is just beginning, we can add money and market knowledge to help it grow in China and hopefully later take it to the rest of the world," he said.

Westlake said ClearWorld considers itself both a venture capital and private equity firm.

"As an investment company, we don't want box ourselves into early or late stages. We don't have a fund, so we are investing our own money instead of fund money. If a deal is too big for us, we can bring other investors to join us," he said.

So far the company has sunk $1.2 billion into green projects, has 60 to 70 employees and has invested in microfinance firms such as 51give as well as clean energy company.

ClearWorld hired veteran venture capitalist Erik Wickstrom, who previously invested in the IT and media industries, as its CEO in late 2008.

"I feel I'm doing something more valuable by helping tackle climate change. And there's plenty of business opportunities in this new sector," said Wickstrom.

Turning waste into energy is one of the areas the company pursues. It has already made small investments in biofuels projects, primarily ones that transform waste oil into biofuel.

Turing waste water into clean water is another sector that tops ClearWorld's business agenda.

Although Westlake and Wickstrom wouldn't disclose information about deals they are currently working on, they said the deals involve increasing efficiency and decreasing building costs at urban water treatment plants and developing water treatment facilities in rural areas.

"A number of opportunities we are investing in are rural-based businesses," said Westlake.

"The latest developments in China's green energy sector tend to revolve around urban areas and industry. But there are also significant opportunities in the rural areas, such as converting biogas into electricity," he said.