SINGAPORE - Sanli Environmental, an environmental engineering company in water and waste management, debuted on the Catalist board on Thursday (June 8) at 40 Singapore cents on opening, 78 per cent above its offer price of 22.5 cents.

The counter was trading 67 per cent higher at 37.5 cents at around 10am.

The company has two main business segments: engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) and operations & maintenance (O&M).

Sanli chief executive Sim Hock Heng founded the company in 2006 with his colleagues from Dayen Environmental, a Singapore-listed water and waste treatment company now known as Moya Holdings Asia. Mr Sim and Sanli's three other executive directors are all engineers with industry experience ranging from 15 years to 20 years.

Sanli Environment intends to use the bulk of the IPO proceeds to expand the business through securing more and larger projects in Singapore and the region.

Singapore's water demand is expected to more than double by 2060 due to higher water consumption levels and industrial needs.

The Singapore Exchange lists 14 stocks under the GICS Water Utilities and Environmental & Facilities sub-industries with a combined market capitalisation of about S$5.6 billion, according to an SGX My Gateway report on Thursday.

The 14 stocks have a market capitalisation-weighted average total return of 13.3 per cent in the year-to-date.