Singapore's Golden Equator Funds Drive Continues

Editorial Staff

4 July 2019

Singapore’s , which was recently honoured by WealthBriefingAsia at this publication’s annual awards event in the city-state, has raised two private capital funds totalling $90 million for growth capital of a public listed company in the region.

The funds were backed by institutional and accredited investors in Singapore, Japan and Korea, Golden Equator Capital said in a statement earlier this week.

The funds, which mainly concentrate on infrastructure, energy, and financial sectors, are commanded by Jacob Jiwon Kim, managing partner at Golden Equator Capital. He has worked for various government and financial institutions in the region as a corporate strategy and acquisition specialist in Asia.

“Asia has historically been a market financed by Western banks, but with these lenders scaling back in Asia in the last decade, the gap in the much-needed growth-financing for Asia’s emerging economies has been growing, Jacob Jiwon Kim said. “At the same time, there is a lot of capital in developed Asian markets such as Japan and Korea that’s looking for investments with stronger returns than their domestic markets. With our strong regional network and market expertise, we are well poised to curate investment opportunities in Southeast Asia for investors from developed Asian markets.”

GEC, which intends to raise a “blind fund” in the range of $200 million next year, may also do more project funds.

The private capital funds will cover private debt and mezzanine financing to provide growth capital for acquisitions and business expansion purposes, for companies and projects in Southeast Asia.

The firm referred to data from research firm Preqin showing that just under a third (30 per cent) of investors it tracks think that Asia presents the best of opportunities for investing in private debt. More than 900 institutional investors globally have stated a preference for Asia-focused private debt funds and are increasing their exposure to private debt strategies at an unprecedented rate, in a bid to diversify their private debt portfolios while finding less competed opportunities.

GEC is a Singapore-based fund management company holding a Capital Markets Services licence - a business under the Golden Equator Group. GEC has five funds: two private capital funds and a prime currency income fund, besides its two venture funds.