* Eyes waste treatment projects in Southeast Asia
* Negotiating projects in Thailand and northeast China
By Eveline Danubrata
SINGAPORE, Sep 2 (Reuters) - C&G Environmental Protection <CGEP.SI>, a Chinese waste-to-energy firm, is in talks to build and operate a 500-600 tonnes per day plant in Thailand, and also plans to bid for projects elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Five years ago, the Singapore-listed firm was wholly involved in fibre manufacture.
Now, it has one waste processing plant operating in China and three that will be fully operational this year and is seeking opportunities in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, executive director Lin Yan told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
"These countries have interest in waste-to-energy projects and they present investment opportunities," he said. The firm generally funds its projects with 65 percent coming from loans and the remaining using internal resources.
Waste-to-energy is the process of creating energy from waste incineration.
C&G, which was listed on the Singapore stock exchange in 2005 as a fibre manufacturer, said it had divested all its exposure to the textile business to focus on the burgeoning waste-to-energy sector.
In Thailand, the firm is in talks with the local government to build a waste treatment plant in a major city, Lin said, without giving details.
It is also in talks for another plant in northeast China that can handle 1,000-1,200 tonnes of waste a day, and hopes negotiations will be concluded in the next few months, Lin said.
With three of its projects expected to start full-scale operation by the end of this year, the firm's total waste treatment capacity will double to 3,600 tonnes a day.
"The development of the economy and urbanisation have led to the creation of a lot of waste, so there will be huge demand for waste-to-energy in different cities," Lin said.
"The industry has strong natural growth prospects and the China government also heavily encourages this industry," he added.
DMG & Partners said with the completion of its switch from the textile business, C&G is now a pure environmental company. The firm is now trading at 21 times its 2010 financial year earnings and 4 times its 2011 earnings. DMG does not have a rating on the stock.
