Forbes Asia August 2017

26 | FORBES ASIA AUGUST 2017

A

t a sewage treatment

plant on the outskirts of

Shanghai, trucks unload

200 tons of pretreated do-

mestic sludge each day, or

10% of the metropolis’ total. There, it’s

dehydrated and deodorized for disposal,

with the water captured for reuse. The

plant came onstream last year as China’s

first domestic challenger to foreign

competitors that might charge 50%

more. An expansion under construction

should add 300 tons to daily capacity.

The plant’s director, Shen Gengen,

doesn’t hide his pride: “Our technology

is unrivaled in the country. You can take

a shower with water coming out of our

plant.” You can’t even if you wanted to,

though, as the water is sold for indus-

trial use to generate more income.

“China’s [environmental] regulatory

standards are rising,” says Zhang Chun-

lin, founder and chairman of the plant’s

owner and designer SafBon Water Ser-

vice, headquartered nearby. “It’s fueling

the sector’s growth and has brought us

myriad opportunities,”

Zhang coined the name SafBon

from “safe” and “bon”—“Two of the

best words from human languages,” as

the fluent English speaker puts it. The

company’s revenue surged 52% last

year to $151 million, earning a debut

on the Best Under A Billion list, with

household sewage accounting for 22%

of the total. Water-supply services

make up most of the rest. The 54-year-

old holds 42% of SafBon’s $900 million

market capitalization.

China didn’t pursue urban water

supply on a massive scale until around

1990. The late start in facilities and
      technology has led to a clear disparity
      with Western countries in water quality,
      says Zhang, while water availability is
      an issue in most of the nation’s parched
      north. Tightening environmental regu-
      lation is spurring domestic companies to
      bridge the tech gap, and Zhang is doing
      it with selective foreign acquisitions.
      Last year SafBon spent $38 million
      to buy Austria’s 67-year-old KWI, a
      global leader in liquid-solid separat-
      ing technology, and this year grabbed a
      treatment arm of Korean infrastructure
      group Doosan. With Chinese desalina-

Make It Flow

Zhang Chunlin gave up a prized state

engineering job to hustle for part of China’s

burgeoning water industry.

BY JANE HO

tion needs being another expanding

part of its business (20% at present),

SafBon this February took a chunk of

seawater specialist AquaSwiss. These

moves have helped to make Zhang’s

outfit China’s corporate leader in desali-

nation technology, says Guo Shaojun of

GEP Research, a Beijing environmental

consulting firm.

China’s water treatment market saw

a 13% rise to $31 billion last year and

BEST UNDER A BILLION — SAFBON

FORBES ASIA