BUSINESS
Competitive Strengths

OUR COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS


We are a leading integrated operator in China’s environmental industry with a nationwide portfolio, ranking as the third largest municipal wastewater treatment operator in China in terms of operational capacity.


We are a leading integrated operator in China’s environmental markets with projects spanning the industry value chain in the wastewater treatment, reclaimed water treatment, sludge treatment, water supply and waste incineration sectors. We had a scalable project portfolio of 120 wastewater treatment projects, six reclaimed water treatment projects, 19 water supply projects, two waste incineration projects and nine sludge treatment projects. According to Frost & Sullivan, in terms of total operational capacity, we were the third largest municipal wastewater treatment operator in China.

We have a nationwide presence with our project network covering 18 provincial-level administrative divisions in China. To optimize group-wide management efficiency and ensure timely responses in local markets, we manage our network through five regional headquarters — Wuhan Regional Headquarters, Nanfang Regional Headquarters, Shandong Regional Headquarters, Longjiang Regional Headquarters and Fudan Regional Headquarters and one waste incineration business unit. Our nationwide coverage comprises the following regions: Northeast China, East China, Central China, South China, North China, Northwest China and Southwest China. We decentralize our management by delegating daily management duties to these regional headquarters and business unit, as it is more efficient to handle operational issues locally. Our group headquarters provide guidance to these regional headquarters and business unit on essential business issues and risk management policies. With a nationwide geographic coverage, we have effectively mitigated risks associated with wastewater treatment operators that have only regional presence, such as volatility of results caused by temporary fluctuations of water input, adverse weather conditions and natural disasters in certain regions.

We focus on investing in large-scale project portfolio with capacities of over one million tons, which we believe have greater profit potential than smaller projects. Since 2011, we acquired and successfully integrated several large water companies, such as Shandong Runtong in 2011, Nanfang Water in 2012, Fudan Water in 2015, and Longjiang and Ranhill in 2016. Leveraging our strong mergers and acquisitions capability and financial strength, we are well-positioned to increase our market share and further solidify our market leading position in the wastewater treatment industry. To enhance our competitiveness, we also seek to explore opportunities in other environment-related industries. We entered the waste incineration sector by acquiring joint ventures stakes in Wenling in 2011 and Pucheng in 2014, and we entered the sludge treatment sector by investing in MIT Environment Group Limited in 2015.

We possess strong technological and operational expertise and an established regional management structure, enabling us to effectively manage our projects across the nation and continuously improve our operations.

We possess strong technological and operational expertise. We utilize advanced core technologies for wastewater treatment and water supply processes, such as the interactive biological treatment technology and Fenton fluidized bed technology. We also provide high-quality equipment and systems integration services to our customers. To ensure the quality of our principal equipment, parts and components, our regional headquarters assign procurement teams to follow a prescribed process for equipment purchasing.

Our projects extend all over China, which has a wide variety of climates and hydro-logical conditions. To effectively manage our projects, we have established a regional management structure, which gives our regional headquarters sufficient discretion to manage daily operations based on their specific circumstances. Each of our regional headquarters is responsible for managing and operating the projects under its control. The regional headquarters and their subsidiaries have an in-depth understanding of the local markets and can react promptly to developments affecting their projects. Our regional management structure also allows us to capture new regional and local opportunities, as well as to maintain strong relationships with the local governments and communities.

In addition, we maintain a project management system and operational management procedures applicable to the Group as a whole. We have a uniform project selection and approval procedure for all new projects. We hold quarterly meetings and require the general managers, vice general managers responsible for finance and chief financial officers of our regional headquarters to attend. During these meetings, our regional headquarters are required to report their operational performance, material fluctuations of water input and supply and material incidents to our group headquarters. The quarterly meetings also provide a forum for our management all over China to share their experience and know-how. Leveraging the scale and diversity of our operations, we are able to share and transfer operational best practices and latest technologies across our nationwide project portfolio. These interactions help us to continuously improve our operational efficiency. Our professional management team also helps ensure the quality of the wastewater effluent and supplied tap water, as well as extending the operating life of our plants.