Infrastructure firm I Squared to invest $5 bln in Asia over next three years, executive says

By Yantoultra Ngui

SINGORE, – Global infrastructure investor I Squared Capital is looking to invest $5 billion in the Asia Pacific from 2025 to 2027 as it seeks to tap into fast-growing sectors, including renewable energy, in the region, its senior partner said.

I Squared, which manages over $38 billion of assets globally, will deploy the money from its $15 billon global flagship fund and $2 billion growth markets fund raised in 2022, its senior partner Harsh Agrawal told Reuters.

The firm’s expansion in Asia Pacific underscores growing investor interest in infrastructure assets across the region as it rapidly urbanises, its energy demand grows and its population becomes increasingly affluent and digitised.

“As we look at the next three, four years, we see this market as having very good characteristics, high growth, a lot of consumption growth driven by consumers in emerging Asia, expansion of the middle class,” Agrawal told Reuters at I Squared’s Singapore office.

Investments in the region’s renewable wind and solar generation assets are expected to double to $1.3 trillion in the 2020s decade compared to the 2010s, according to consultants Wood Mackenzie.

Besides renewable energy, I Squared plans to focus on sectors including digital infrastructure, transport and logistics, as well as environmental infrastructure.

It will look at deal sizes from $150 million to an average $500 million, he Agrawal.

Already one of the most active infrastructure investors in the region, I Squared plans to open a new office in Seoul this year, Agrawal said, adding to its presence in Singapore, New Delhi, Sydney and Taipei.

Miami-headquartered I Squared has invested almost $3.5 billion in Asia Pacific since its founding in 2012, Agrawal said.

In April, Japanese investors including Osaka Gas and Sumitomo Corporation partnered with I Squared on a $370 million strategic investment in natural gas infrastructure in India.

Last year, it acquired Rentco, a transport equipment leasing company in Australia.

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