ADB sets up cleantech matchmaker in Singapore; IPEx Cleantech Asia is a world-first.......

By: Andrea Soh , Business Times

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has set up a new platform in Singapore to match buyers and sellers of low-carbon technologies, as Asia's push to use more clean energy has made more urgent the need for the transfer of technologies from developed countries. By combining financial, technical and legal expertise to evaluate technologies in a single platform, the service, called IPEx Cleantech Asia, is said to be a world-first. It will be run by a joint venture between DNVGL, a global advisory firm, and ReEx Capital Asia, a Singapore clean energy investment banking and consulting firm. Both were chosen after a competitive selection process by the ADB. A few Web-based platforms have emerged to perform the same service in the past few years, but they have not been suitable, said Yanis Boudjouher, CEO of ReEx Capital Asia. "You need people, you need the expertise."IPEx Cleantech Asia will select clean energy technologies available in developed countries, focusing initially on four areas: solar, energy storage, energy efficiency and waste to energy. It will evaluate their viability in Asia, and match the sellers with buyers. It will also tie up with partners such as law firm Rajah & Tann which could provide expertise on local intellectual protection (IP) rights in the region.Sellers of such technologies could include innovation design companies, university laboratories and multinational firms, while buyers might be manufacturers, project developers and governments, said the ADB.

IPEx Cleantech Asia was announced by the bank on the sidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Peru. Singapore was chosen as the location due to the protection of intellectual property rights here, and its strong transit connections to the rest of Asia, said Mr Boudjouher.IPEx Cleantech Asia is co-funded by the ADB, Japan, US-based fund Global Environment Facility, and Belgium's VITO-Flemish Institute of Technological Research, though it eventually expects to run as an independent business in two years.It will operate on a fee-based model, and transactions are expected to be between US$2 million and US$5 million on average.This, however, is a conservative number, said Mr Boudjouher, adding that transaction sizes in the cleantech sector could range from about US$1 million for start-up companies to US$10-20 million for more proven technologies targeting large markets. "IPEx Cleantech Asia will aim at closing large transactions to make a larger impact in deploying clean technologies but the platform will also look at smaller transactions with very promising deployment potential in Asia."Sanjay Kuttan, country manager of DNVGL clean technology centre in Singapore, said that there was no lack of funding in the sector. "The real issue is to create a project that (capital providers) want. That is what everybody is struggling with," he said. "So hopefully, this platform will bring credibility to those projects, so that the funds can be deployed in the right way."

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has set up a new platform in Singapore to match buyers and sellers of low-carbon technologies, as Asia's push to use more clean energy has made more urgent the need for the transfer of technologies from developed countries.

December 5, 2014