CITIC looks to water investments

Hong Kong-based CITIC Pacific said it expects its RMB 200 million water supply JV in China's Guizhou province to yield a 15% return. The 30-year franchise with Paris-based Veolia Environnement marked the first in a series of potential projects in the water sector, CITIC said. The move is part of a strategy to fill an earnings shortfall created by the sale of CITIC's Shanghai infrastructure portfolio. CITIC executives said the group was in talks to invest in five other water and sewage treatment projects in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Jiangsu.