This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 25, 2025 - August 31, 2025
SOUTH Korean environmental solutions outfit SK ecoplant Co Ltd’s plan to sell its minority 30% stake in Cenviro Sdn Bhd is understood to have generated interest, with as many as five companies placing bids, sources familiar with the matter tell The Edge.
The five parties are units under South Korean conglomerate Samsung; French water, waste and energy management outfit Veolia Environnement SA; pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) leading a group of investors that include I Squared Capital and Quantum Capital; private equity firm TPG; as well as Alam Flora Sdn Bhd, a 97.37% unit of Malakoff Corp Bhd (KL:MALAKOF), which in turn is 38.45%-controlled by MMC Corp Bhd — the flagship company of businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.
Details such as the timeline of the bidding were hard to come by at press time.
Cenviro’s largest shareholder is sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which controls 70% of the waste resource management company that has been gaining traction over the past decade, as cities grapple with large amounts of waste.
A source says, “The interest the company (Cenviro) has generated is understandable … Cenviro is a good company, the controlling shareholder (Khazanah) is strong, meaning the buyer of the 30% [stake] will have a strong business partner to chart Cenviro’s growth trajectory with. (Khazanah) being a GLIC (government-linked investment company), its ties are good. It (Cenviro) also operates in an area of business that is seen to be growing … Unless the acquisition price is not commensurate with the price tag, the sale should go through without any hiccups.”
When news of SK ecoplant wanting to sell out of Cenviro first surfaced at end-June this year, it was reported that the sale would value it at about US$300 million or RM1.27 billion. This would value SK ecoplant’s 30% stake sans a premium at RM381 million.
To recap, SK ecoplant bought into Cenviro in May 2022 as a strategic partner to both Khazanah and Cenviro. SK ecoplant is a unit of SK Group, the second-largest conglomerate in South Korea, and has over 47 years of experience in eco-friendly businesses in integrated waste management, energy, engineering and construction. It has a business presence in 15 countries.
SK ecoplant has three directors — Hanseung Ok, Heo Kwanyoung and Park Deok Seop — on the board of Cenviro, which has five other directors.
News reports have it that SK ecoplant, after a restructuring, is looking to shift away from the waste management business, which could be the reason for the Cenviro stake sale.
At press time, speculation had been mounting that SK ecoplant was looking to hive off environmental business subsidiaries Renewus and Renewone to global private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), but such news remains unsubstantiated. There have also been reports that SK ecoplant was looking to divest its offshore wind substructure subsidiary SK Oceanplant.
In early 2014, Khazanah had acquired Cenviro (then UEM Environment Sdn Bhd) in a related-party transaction from wholly-owned UEM Group. The plan back then was to float Cenviro’s shares on Bursa Malaysia, raising RM1 billion.
Today, Cenviro’s assets are held under three distinct subsidiaries. Under its wholly-owned Kualiti Alam Sdn Bhd are an incineration plant, a solidification plant, physical and chemical treatment plants, and a secured landfill and clinical waste treatment centre that has the capacity to store, treat and dispose of more than 100,000 tonnes of all classes of hazardous wastes per annum.
Meanwhile, Cenviro Recycling and Recovery Sdn Bhd is a resource management business with the requisite licences to recover 13 scheduled waste codes, including full recovery of spent oil and solvent as well as partial recovery of e-waste and specific waste.
Via E-Idaman Sdn Bhd, Cenviro undertakes solid waste collection services with a fleet of more than 170 collection vehicles. This business is capable of handling an average of 1,450 tonnes of solid waste that are produced by more than 350,000 premises — be it residential, industrial, commercial or institutional — every day. It runs public cleaning services in Kedah and Perlis, employing a workforce of some 3,650 and has an active recycling business.
Cenviro, meanwhile, has been maintaining its profitability for several years. For its financial year ended Dec 31, 2023, the company chalked up after-tax profits of RM34.64 million on the back of RM263.86 million in revenue. In FY2022, the company mustered after-tax profits of RM62.78 million from RM284.59 million in revenue, the highest figures in the five years from 2019 to 2023, according to Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) records.
As at end-Dec 31, 2023, Cenviro had amassed total assets of RM794.18 million, while its total liabilities were pegged at RM272.42 million. Retained earnings were RM482.51 million.
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