IFC-backed funds to finance 'green' projects in Philippines
A couple of funds backed by the International Finance Corp. (IFC) will help bankroll infrastructure build-up in the Philippines, including "green" projects.
Documents seen by Manila Bulletin showed that the IFC, the World Bank Group's private-sector lending arm, on May 8 approved its $75-million equity investment in ISQ Growth Markets Infrastructure Fund II.
This fund, established by Miami-headquartered I Squared Capital, "will support infrastructure needs by investing across areas of transport and logistics, digital infrastructure, and energy transition and efficiency in countries including India, Brazil, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Colombia," the IFC said.
Specific projects in the pipeline include sustainable water and waste management.
On top of the IFC's investment, the fund plans to raise as much as $3 billion in a bid to "increase access to private equity capital and value creation for infrastructure projects" in the aforementioned targeted emerging markets (EMs).
The fund aims to address the "significant" infrastructure gaps in these EMs.
It also wants to "strengthen the infrastructure equity market in EMs, demonstrating the commercial viability of such investments and attracting more institutional investors," the IFC said.
Separately, the IFC approved on May 1 its up to $100-million investment in structured debt fund Green Investment Partnership (GIP), which is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion in order to extend loan financing for "marginally bankable sustainable infrastructure projects" in emerging Asia, especially the Southeast Asian region.
Managed by Singapore-based Pentagreen Capital Fund Management Pte. Ltd. (Pentagreen FM), this fund has a pipeline of projects to support in the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as India.
Financing for these projects would be in the form of senior secured loans, unsecured loans, mezzanine, subordinated loans, and investments into debt securities, the IFC said.
According to the IFC, GIP "will contribute to reduced GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions in Asian emerging countries with a large power generation carbon footprint."
Also, "the IFC anticipates that the project will promote competition in the climate finance space for [the] infrastructure sector, by helping create mechanisms to draw long-term financing for renewable energy (RE), sustainable transport, waste, water, and circular economy solutions."
"Through demonstration and replication, the project is expected to help crowd-in private capital for climate financing activities through new funds and investors," it added.
Pentagreen FM is wholly owned by Pentagreen Capital Pte. Ltd., which is a joint venture, 50-percent owned each by HSBC Holdings plc and Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings.