$1.1bn first close for Macquarie’s Asia fund

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), the alternative asset manager of Sydney-based Macquarie Group, has held a first close of $1.1 billion on its Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund (MAIF) within nine months since fundraising efforts began, a source told Infrastructure Investor on Thursday.

“With just this first close, MAIF is already the largest pan-Asian infra fund that has ever been raised,” the source said.

MAIF, which will invest in investment-grade countries in Asia – including Greater China, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand – has a target of $2.25 billion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and is the tenth Asia-focused fund MIRA has raised to date. Other target markets include Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The fund will target investments in sectors including utilities, water and wastewater, airports, contracted power generation, ports, roads and renewable energy, the same source said.

A spokesperson for Macquarie declined comment.

According to a second source, Macquarie estimates that the markets MAIF will be targeting will require $7.5 trillion in infrastructure investment through 2020.

MIRA’s first close on its Asia fund comes less than two months after the asset manager beat its $2 billion target for Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III (MIP III), its fourth unlisted North America-focused fund that closed on $3 billion at the end of September.

MIP III contributed to Macquarie maintaining first position in this year’s Infrastructure Investor 30 ranking of the largest fund managers globally. For the five-year period ending June 30, 2014 Macquarie raised $27.35 billion, putting the firm at a safe distance from Canada’s Brookfield which landed in second place with a total of $12.87 billion raised over the same period.

In addition to infrastructure, MIRA also specialises in real estate, agriculture and other real asset classes via public and private funds, co-investments, partnerships and separately managed accounts.

Its client base is primarily institutional investors, including global pension and superannuation funds, other institutions and governments. As of March 31, MIRA managed 29 infrastructure investment vehicles and $105 billion of infrastructure assets across 27 countries.