Investing in next-generation infrastructure for the future – that’s what we’re going to talk about today. 

Named after the tallest tree in Singapore, Seraya Partners is a Singapore headquartered private equity firm that focuses on mid-market Asia infrastructure. 

The firm invests in areas such as digital infrastructure and the energy transition, and aims to address what it describes as “the region’s burgeoning trillion dollar infrastructure gap” amid mega trends such as intensive climate change, rapid urbanisation and ageing infrastructure.

So far, the Seraya Partners raised S$800 (or S$1.08 billion) for its Asia infrastructure fund that focuses on digital infrastructure and energy transition investments in what’s said to be an oversubscribed round. 

The PE company said it secured capital from global institutional investors including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurers and family offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. 

Limited partners included Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Alberta Investment Management, as well as funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. 

The firm added that 50 per cent of funds had already been allocated to data centre operator Empyrion DC, offshore wind farm vessel operator Cyan Renewables and solar, wind and energy solutions developer Astrid Renew.

But how much money is in this pool? What is the ROI expected by the participants in its Asia infrastructure fund? Also – where is the firm looking to deploy the remaining funds? 

On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to James Chern, CIO and Managing Partner, Seraya Partners.