The Australian government’s A$2bn (€1.1bn) Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility (SEAIFF) is investing A$175m in IFM Investors’ Asia-Pacific debt fund and US$50m (€43m) in a new Southeast Asia public-private partnership (PPP) fund established by infrastructure specialist Plenary.
The government said the investment in Plenary’s new Southeast Asia PPP investment fund would enable Plenary to finance essential public infrastructure projects across Southeast Asia. The commitment to the Asia-Pacific debt fund, supports IFM’s expansion into Southeast Asia, where it intends to focus on investments in sectors including renewable energy, telecommunications and logistics.
Both investments, administered by Export Finance Australia (EFA), will help expand the presence of Australian investors and businesses in Southeast Asia.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, said: ”Plenary is an Australian infrastructure champion. With this new platform we are supporting the direct export of Australian expertise and knowhow to deliver nation-building projects in Southeast Asia through public-private partnerships.”
Chi-Ling Looi, Plenary Asia CEO, said: “We are confident this highly significant commitment will mobilise further development capital to support the delivery of vitally needed social and economic infrastructure in Southeast Asia.”
Paul Crowe, Plenary CEO, said: “Southeast Asia as a bloc will be the world’s fourth largest economy. That provides great opportunity for private capital investment in greenfield public infrastructure. We have been leading discussions in the region promoting a meaningful role for private investment in infrastructure that mobilises international capital to the region and are heartened by recent progress.”
Plenary said that it was currently in discussions with other sovereign wealth funds, development finance institutions and multilateral development banks to invest in the platform.
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