Singapore-based fund manager Pierfront Capital Fund Management on Monday announced the first close of its latest real asset private credit fund at $200 million.
The fund, Keppel-Pierfront Private Credit Fund, secured $100 million each from its two sponsors, Pierfront Capital Mezzanine Fund (PCMF) and Keppel Capital Holdings. PCMF is owned by Temasek Holdings (90.91 per cent stake) and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (9.09 per cent).
Pierfront Capital on Monday also announced that it has received the Capital Markets Services licence for fund management from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The fund manager’s latest private credit fund seeks to provide debt solutions predominantly in Asia Pacific’s real asset sectors, including infrastructure, real estate, offshore marine, transportation, energy and natural resources. Its first close comes after Keppel Capital acquired a 50 per cent stake in Pierfront Capital for about $7.8 million in November 2019.
“Private debt is a growing asset class, particularly in today’s environment in Asia-Pacific, where we have observed considerable demand for alternative lending solutions to meet capital needs of corporates and projects in real asset sectors, arising from the structural tightening of traditional bank lending in select markets,” said Keppel Capital CEO Christina Tan in a statement.
Keppel Capital had around S$33 billion in assets under management (AUM) by the end of 2019. The company has a diversified portfolio that includes real estate, infrastructure and data centre assets.