Korea's IMM invests $40m in Chinese water business

The investment came from IMM's Green Infrastructure Fund. This is the firm's seventh infrastructure vehicle with a corpus of KRW200 billion ($163 million). However, United Water represents IMM's debut deal in the Asian infrastructure space outside of Korea. It is also the first investment by a Korean group in China's infrastructure sector.

Established in 2003, United Water claims to be the country's largest private infrastructure company focused on water, with 23 projects nationwide. These are structured as concession agreements with local governments and generate stable revenue streams. Last year, United Water secured its first international project, winning a concession to develop and operate a water distribution network in Bangladesh under the public-private partnership (PPP) regime.

"China has been developing the water treatment industry through various policies and incentives in order to resolve regional water requirements and meet the increasing expectations on water quality and demand. The increased focus on private sector participation by the government for the development of the industry will create more opportunities for industry players like United Water," IMM said in a statement.

AVCJ Research's records indicate that United Water received $20 million in funding from Blue Ridge China in 2007. Three years later, Blue Ridge and Infinity Investment Management put in a further $5 million. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) provided $20 million in financing to the company in 2011 and then participated in a third round of equity funding in 2015 alongside Olympus Capital Asia. The size of the investment was not disclosed.

IMM started pursuing opportunities in the Asian infrastructure market following the recruitment last year of Hyun Chan Cho, who was previously a director responsible for infrastructure and resources in the region at IFC.

The private equity firm has approximately $4 billion in assets under management across 33 funds, including $1.2 billion in infrastructure. It has more than 50 professionals based in Korea, Japan and Hong Kong.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• North Asia
• Infrastructure
• Greater China
• Cleantech
• South Korea
• China
• IMM Investment