The world's first-ever green business trust, comprising solely of assets in the environmental management business, will be listed on the local stock exchange by the middle of next year.

In a statement yesterday, Keppel Corporation said that the trust will be established by its wholly owned subsidiary Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE). It will be managed by KIE's subsidiary Keppel Infrastructure Fund Management.

One of the trust's first assets will be the Senoko Incineration Plant, which the Government has decided will be divested into KIE's trust for an indicative price of $462 million.

The plant currently treats 2,100 tonnes of waste per day to produce 34 megawatts of environmentally friendly 'green' electrical energy.

The Government announced in January that it was considering selling the Senoko plant either through a newly listed infrastructure business trust or to an existing listed trust.

It said the move was aimed at encouraging competition and improving efficiency in the waste management sector through greater private sector involvement, as well as creating investment opportunities for the public to invest in the infrastructure sector.

Singapore currently has four incineration plants that treat waste to produce electricity.

Keppel added that a fifth waste-to-energy plant its subsidiary is currently building in Tuas and Asia's largest operational Newater plant at Ulu Pandan will also be considered for injection into the trust.

Both plants are built under the private-public partnership initiative and will be owned and operated by Keppel for 25 years and 20 years respectively.

Keppel said yesterday that more details of the trust's IPO and listing on the exchange will be announced in due course.

'We believe this green business trust will offer eco-friendly investors the opportunity to participate in green projects, while at the same time enjoy stable and sustainable returns,' said KIE's chief executive Chua Chee Wui.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 15, 2008.