International trading and investment company Mitsui & Co and pan-European real estate investment manager Patrizia have jointly announced the launch of the APAC Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (A-SIF), with US$110 million equity to invest at first close.
The Development Bank of Japan is an anchor investor, with other investors based in Japan and Europe.
With a target size of between US$500 million and US$1 billion, the fund will invest in the four core sectors of energy (50%), digital (20%), social (20%) and mobility (10%) across “key developed markets” including Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand and Taiwan, as well as in “select developing Asian markets”, say the companies on Jan 18.
“In developed markets, this capital will largely be used to replace existing ageing infrastructure that no longer has a social licence, whilst in developing countries where there is a significant infrastructure gap, greenfield projects will require strong sustainability governance to ensure that environmental, social and governance aspects are authentically met over the life of the investment,” the companies tell The Edge Singapore.
Target assets include solar and wind farms, battery storage, data centres, sea cables, healthcare and education facilities and EV charging stations. The first investments are expected in 1Q2023.
According to the companies, A-SIF is focused on sustainable investing in Asia and has identified Sustainable Development Goals 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and 13 (Climate Action) as part of its sustainability strategy. “A-SIF will be looking to invest in low-carbon and renewable energy assets across emerging and developed Asia. For all its investments, A-SIF will be measuring and monitoring its carbon footprint and undertaking a physical climate risk assessment every year to ensure climate risks and opportunities are identified and appropriate adaptation and resilience building are in place as part of the asset management plans for each portfolio company.”
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Daisuke Ishida, managing officer and chief operating officer, corporate development business unit at Mitsui, says: “This A-SIF is a new infrastructure fund based on the strong relationship between Patrizia and Mitsui for more than 15 years. We hope to meet the expectations of its investors while further developing our relationship with Patrizia.”
Wolfgang Egger, founder and CEO at Patrizia, says: “Our proven long-term partnership with Mitsui over the last 15 years demonstrates that we remain a strong and trusted partner to our clients in these times of continued uncertainty. With the launch of A-SIF, we are pleased to offer investors access to one of Asia-Pacific’s largest active strategies dedicated to sustainable, mid-market infrastructure investing. For Patrizia, APAC is a core pillar of our mid-term growth strategy, so we are very excited to again join forces with our partners at Mitsui to drive the growth of our real assets footprint in the region and help us achieve this ambition.”
A-SIF is the second fund from the Patrizia-Mitsui collaboration dedicated to the APAC market, following the launch of the Emerging Market Infrastructure Fund (EMIF) in 2008.
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The new fund leverages the largest infrastructure network in APAC, with more than 15,000 local experts across 69 offices in the region and meaningful connections to both industry and government bodies. It also benefits from strong sponsorship alignment, with both Patrizia-Mitsui co-investors in A-SIF, along with the anchor investor the Development Bank of Japan.
With a 38-year track-record, Patrizia manages more than EUR57 billion assets under management (AUM) globally for its clients, of which EUR10 billion is for institutional investors who are located in Asia-Pacific. Mitsui has US$122 billion of total assets and 509 affiliated companies for consolidation across the globe.
