Swiss energy investment firm SUSI Partners, through its recently launched Asia Energy Transition Fund (SAETF), is committed to investing in Southeast Asia – a region the firm sees as being “overlooked by private capital” when it comes to investments in the sector.
“The number one reason is that it’s fragmented. If we can create a platform that’s cross-border, that will be very attractive to an institutional investor,” SUSI Partners co-CEO Marius Dorfmeister told DealStreetAsia in an interview.
SAETF is slated to focus on markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines in Southeast Asia.
Since the clean energy sector is at a nascent stage in the region, the fund aims to fill the existing gaps in terms of development risks, environmental and social risks, regulatory compliance that could help businesses grow in a more sustainable way, added SUSI Partners managing director Wymen Chan, who is heading the firm’s Asia strategy.
SUSI Partners made the first close for SAETF at $81 million last week, thereby raking in an amount higher than an anticipated $60 million target.
Dorfmeister said the firm plans to raise a similar amount and make the second closing by the fourth quarter of this year, with the final closing planned for 2022.
The total size of the fund is targeted at $250 million.
“The Asian energy transition market is a little bit less mature, but the concept and risk-return profiles are quite similar [to Europe]. Both from an ESG perspective and a return perspective, the energy transition plays in Southeast Asia are even more attractive, since the market is not yet as efficient as for example Europe,” he added.
Edited excerpts from the interview:-
