KUALA LUMPUR: Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB) yesterday launched a US$500 million (RM1.58 billion) clean energy fund to tap a growing appetite for clean and renewable energy investments in Asia.
Some US$145 million commitments had already been secured from institutions, including that from US-based Overseas Private Investment Corp (Opic), the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corp, said Tengku Datuk Zafrul Tengku Aziz, CEO of Maybank IB.
The targeted amount should be achieved by mid-2012, Zafrul added, calling the Pan-Asia fund size among the largest of its kind.
The Maybank MEACP Clean Energy fund will be managed by Maybank MEACP Pte Ltd (MMPL), a 50:50 joint venture between Maybank Ventures Sdn Bhd — a Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) subsidiary — and a Singapore-based private equity firm, Middle East & Asia Capital Partners Pte Ltd (MEACP). Mumtaz Khan, a leading private equity infrastructure professional in the Middle East and Asia, founded MEACP to focus on infrastructure investment opportunities in emerging markets, according to data on Maybank’s website.
Maybank IB has put US$50 million into the fund that will be offered globally to institutions and ultra-high net wealth individuals and families with a minimum buy-in of US$10 million.
The fund which will seek out clean energy projects in the Asia- Pacific region, with focus on countries like China and India, as well as opportunities in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Its focus will be on implementing clean and renewable energy production, said Ali Khan, managing director of MMPL. “Our focus will be power generation and not an investment into the technology [per se],” he added.
Sub-sectors of interest to the fund include biomass, biogas, geothermal, wind, solar and small-hydroelectric.
“We already have projects in the pipeline, but I can’t disclose them,” Ali said, “However, the types of projects we undertake will depend on the country. For example, Indonesia is viable for geothermal and Malaysia is a good candidate for biomass and biogas given its oil palm production.”
Accordingly to Zafrul, the target yield for the fund is in the “high teens” and the prospects for clean and renewable energy are bright. And while many corporations have jumped on the renewable energy bandwagon, Zafrul promised that the fund isn’t one that’s obsessed with being “green”. At the end of the day, returns are what matters to investors, and that will be the fund’s primary purpose, he said.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 16, 2011.
Some US$145 million commitments had already been secured from institutions, including that from US-based Overseas Private Investment Corp (Opic), the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corp, said Tengku Datuk Zafrul Tengku Aziz, CEO of Maybank IB.
The targeted amount should be achieved by mid-2012, Zafrul added, calling the Pan-Asia fund size among the largest of its kind.
The Maybank MEACP Clean Energy fund will be managed by Maybank MEACP Pte Ltd (MMPL), a 50:50 joint venture between Maybank Ventures Sdn Bhd — a Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) subsidiary — and a Singapore-based private equity firm, Middle East & Asia Capital Partners Pte Ltd (MEACP). Mumtaz Khan, a leading private equity infrastructure professional in the Middle East and Asia, founded MEACP to focus on infrastructure investment opportunities in emerging markets, according to data on Maybank’s website.
Maybank IB has put US$50 million into the fund that will be offered globally to institutions and ultra-high net wealth individuals and families with a minimum buy-in of US$10 million.
The fund which will seek out clean energy projects in the Asia- Pacific region, with focus on countries like China and India, as well as opportunities in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Its focus will be on implementing clean and renewable energy production, said Ali Khan, managing director of MMPL. “Our focus will be power generation and not an investment into the technology [per se],” he added.
Sub-sectors of interest to the fund include biomass, biogas, geothermal, wind, solar and small-hydroelectric.
“We already have projects in the pipeline, but I can’t disclose them,” Ali said, “However, the types of projects we undertake will depend on the country. For example, Indonesia is viable for geothermal and Malaysia is a good candidate for biomass and biogas given its oil palm production.”
Accordingly to Zafrul, the target yield for the fund is in the “high teens” and the prospects for clean and renewable energy are bright. And while many corporations have jumped on the renewable energy bandwagon, Zafrul promised that the fund isn’t one that’s obsessed with being “green”. At the end of the day, returns are what matters to investors, and that will be the fund’s primary purpose, he said.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 16, 2011.
