By JAMIE LEE

vTrium Energy is chasing the energy business in both the conventional and renewable space.

Set up about two years ago, vTrium Energy offers advisory services on energy projects, including those in the power and oil-and-gas sectors.

'(We) realised that there is niche place for industry professionals who can provide end-to-end advisory services from project origination to development to financing to construction management and operations management,' chairman and chief executive Vijay Sirse told BT.

These services include due diligence checks, equity placement and debt syndication for the power sector, as well as offering advice for acquisition financing of off-shore jack up rigs.

vTrium Energy is also developing and investing in renewable energy projects, with a focus on the biomass sector. It is currently negotiating to buy the feedstock and turn the material into biomass.

For example, in a sugar mill cogeneration power project, the pulp after the sugar cane crushing - bagasse - is made available from the sugar mill to the company. In turn, the sugar mill will get the power and steam for its operations.

The company is looking at four renewable energy projects in India, Malaysia and Indonesia through its subsidiary.

'vTrium has already secured the rights to one project in India and currently in discussions on the other three projects,' said Mr Sirse, who did not give more details.

With the financial meltdown, vTrium has seen fewer deals come through. 'Most of the investments planned by the investors to whom we provide advisory services deferred their investment plans,' he said. 'This has significantly affected the cash flows,' but added that it would look to pursue its clean energy businesses faster. 'The credit crunch has further affected us to aggressively start the development of the clean energy portfolio of projects,' said Mr Sirse.

But he noted that advisory services tend to command higher profit margins compared with those tied to project development and investment.

Mr Sirse said he chose to set up shop here because he sees Singapore as the hot spot for supporting growth in the energy sector in the Asean region over the next decade.

'Singapore is uniquely placed to be a hub for supporting this growth through its capital markets, its position as a trading centre and its emergence as a fast growing financial centre for these markets,' he said.

vTrium is currently focused on India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Nigeria. Sales from projects in India make up nearly half of its total revenue. Nigerian projects contribute about 30 per cent, with the projects from other countries making up the remaining 20 per cent.

Sales over the past two years have hit close to half a million. The company's capital base is about $750,000 now and expects to break even this year.

'The energy sector is a very promising sector as energy is the backbone for every socio-economic activity and is always short,' said Mr Sirse. 'The returns on the energy sector are always on a long term basis and thus this sector is for those classes of investors who take a long term view of the investment and have the ability to sustain (it).'

This article was first published in The Business Times.