Fundraising

JPMorgan targets Asian infrastructure with $860m fund

The fund, which was targeting $1bn in total commitments, closed Tuesday. Investors in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East joined the fund. It will invest in infrastructure assets such as toll roads and businesses whose activities serve as inputs for those assets, such as cement manufacturers.

By
Cezary Podkul
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JPMorgan Asset Management has reached a final close on its Asian Infrastructure & Related Resources Opportunity Fund on $858.6 million, marking one of the largest-ever fund closes for the Asian infrastructure market, according to a statement.

The fund was targeting $1 billion in total commitments, according to infrastructure fundraising database InfrastructureConnect.

Asian infrastructure:
full speed ahead
for JPMorgan
JMorgan said in the statement the fund attracted capital commitments from a “diversified range of investors”, including institutional and high-net worth investors from the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

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 to the JPMorgan Infrastructure Investments Fund, agreed to a $37 million commitment to the Asian fund in June 2008, according to pension documents.

The fund, which has a team of dedicated investment professionals in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai, will invest infrastructure assets such as toll roads, power generation, electricity transmission, water supply, waste management and social infrastructure, according to the statement.

The fund will also make “related” investment in resources that involve “critical inputs required for Asia’s massive infrastructure investment agenda”. For example, in December 2007, the fund closed on a deal to acquire 45 percent ownership in Hong Kong-based cement manufacturer Scitus Cement (China) Holdings Limited.

The fund is headed by Hong Kong-based managing director Philip Jackson, whose team resides within JPMorgan Asset Management’s Global Real Assets Division.

The division, headed by New York-based Joe Azelby, had approximately $43 billion in real estate and infrastructure assets as of 31 December 2009.