ThomasLloyd's Portfolio of Biomass Projects Set to Benefit From a New Era of Chinese-Philippine Relations Following the State Visit of President Duterte

ThomasLloyd's Portfolio of Biomass Projects Set to Benefit From a New Era of
Chinese-Philippine Relations Following the State Visit of President Duterte

From October 18 to 21, senior representatives of ThomasLloyd participated in
the historic Philippine Presidential trade and diplomatic mission to China.
The diplomatic summit and ceremonial signing of important trade and
cooperation agreements in Beijing took place between Xi Jinping, President
of the People's Republic of China, and Rodrigo Duterte, President of the
Republic of the Philippines, in the presence of senior politicians and up to
400 businessmen.

'My state visit to China signalled a turning point in our shared history and
showed that both countries are fully capable of working together for mutual
beneficial cooperation even as we remain committed to settle disputes
peacefully in full adherence of international law,' President Duterte said.

Both sides affirmed their partnership and declared a shared ambition to
achieve sustainable development and inclusive growth that will benefit the
people of both countries in the years ahead. Together, they committed to
enhance economic relations in several priority sectors, such as
infrastructure and energy, through the promotion of trade, investment and
economic cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding on Strengthening
Bilateral Trade, Investment and Economic Cooperation. Within the framework
of the summit, eleven MoUs were signed, including one between ThomasLloyd
and its Philippine and Chinese stakeholders in the biomass sector, for a
total of USD 7.9 billion of commitments, which would create up to two
million jobs in the Philippines. Today China is the second biggest trade
partner of the Philippines, its 4th biggest export market, and largest
supplier of imports. These agreements create extensive mutual market access
and provide the basis for closer cooperation in the political and economic
field.

As part of this historic agreement and ceremony, a commitment to the
ThomasLloyd biomass projects, currently under construction in the
Philippines and funded by ThomasLloyd SICAV-SIF-Cleantech Infrastructure
Fund as the principal financial sponsor, was signed on behalf of ThomasLloyd
by the Managing Directors and Regional CEOs Tony Coveney and Mike Airey, for
Bronzeoak by President Arthur Aguilar and Senior Vice President Don Maria Y.
Dia, and for Wuxi by Director Zhang Yun and General Manager Lu Yicheng.
Further construction of the power plants South Negros BioPower Inc. and
North Negros BioPower Inc., along with the soon to be completed plant San
Carlos BioPower Inc., represent the continued successful cooperation between
ThomasLloyd's European investors, Philippine developers and Chinese
engineers. This cooperation already stands today as a template for business
between the three communities.

T.U. Michael Sieg, Chairman and Group CEO of the ThomasLloyd Group sees the
Group's invitation to and participation in the Beijing visit 'as special
recognition of the previous successes of ThomasLloyd Group and its Chinese
and Philippine partners. The results of the summit, and the many meetings
which took place around it, will form the basis for faster growth and
development of Philippine infrastructure.' Based on the summit outcome and
the climate of goodwill now existing, ThomasLloyd projects hope to benefit
directly from the new appetite from Chinese banks and other financial
institutions to support vendor finance and project finance for Chinese
exports in capital goods to the Philippines.

During the state visit, commercial agreements between the participating
project partners, Bronzeoak Philippines Inc., Wuxi Huaguang and the
ThomasLloyd Group, were signed in a ceremony, in the presence of President
Duterte and other senior members of the Philippine government. These
contracts form the basis for a long-term cooperation, a faster
implementation and successful realisation of the biomass power plants on
Negros Island in the Philippines. The power plants comprising 70MW near the
cities of Manapla, San Carlos and La Carlota on Negros Island will convert
sugarcane waste into electricity using a low carbon-emitting process,
Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Technology. Before this use as feedstock
for biomass power plants, sugarcane waste was burnt in the fields, a now
illegal practice that contributed significantly to air pollution. With its
use of local sugar cane waste, this project is an exciting development for
all the stakeholders and a boost for the local community. This will bring
further economic growth and better standards of living, particularly in
rural areas of the region contributing to the enhancement and protection of
the environment, and improving the local population's overall quality of
life.

Referring to this, Tony Coveney, Managing Director and Head of Project
Finance at ThomasLloyd Group, said:

'It was a privilege and an honour to participate in this landmark event in
Beijing. The inclusion of our projects, in which we have invested, is
recognition of the impact and success we have had and continue to have in
partnership with Bronzeoak and Wuxi. As with our successful solar projects,
ours is an investment template for others to follow.'

Mike Airey, Managing Director and CEO Asia Pacific added: 'We are honoured
to accept this recognition of the work we have been doing over more than
five years in the Philippines. We hope this landmark meeting will mark yet
another important step by both countries and that it will significantly
contribute to greater economic and trade development in the Asia-Pacific
region as a whole. This milestone for us, as a global investment and
advisory firm, has brought us closer to the Chinese capital and banking
markets, opened up new growth potential and provided us with a new range of
strategic and commercial options.'

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Ref:
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/thomaslloyds-portfolio-of-biomass-
projects-set-to-benefit-from-a-new-era-of-chinese-philippine-relations-follo
wing-the-state-visit-of-president-duterte-598999781.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com