Fundraising

JPMorgan Asian infra fund raises $90m from US investors

The firm’s Asian Infrastructure & Related Resources Opportunity fund, which had attracted $600m in commitments as of January, is attracting capital from US investors, regulatory filings show.

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JPMorgan Asset Management’s Asian Infrastructure & Related Resources Opportunity fund (AIRRO) has secured more than $90 million of commitments from US investors, according to regulatory filings disclosed late last week.

In two separate forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm said it had raised $90.2 million and $2.6 million toward the fund’s two US affiliates: JPMorgan AIRRO Fund US LP and JPMorgan AIRRO Fund US LLC, respectively.

Both affiliates listed $1.5 billion as the target size of the fund’s offering.

One US investor known to have committed money to the fund is the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System. The pension, which previously made a $20 million investor in the JPMorgan Infrastructure Investments Fund, agreed to a $37 million commitment to AIRRO in June 2008, subject to due diligence and contract negotiations.

AIRRO targets investments with internal rates of return in excess of 19 percent and has investment professionals across Singapore, Hong Kong and Mumbai.

The fund has already started investing. In December 2007, it closed on a deal to acquire 45 percent ownership in Hong Kong-based cement manufacturer Scitus Cement (China) Holdings Limited.

As of January 2009, the fund had topped $600 million in commitments, InfrastructureInvestor previously reported.