US debt investor Muzinich & Co has teamed up with Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing-backed alternative investment firm Orion3 Group to raise a private infrastructure debt fund targeting as much as $1 billion, according to an announcement on Monday.
The fund, which will focus on providing debt financing and capital solutions for middle-market infrastructure and real asset companies, has already secured $120 million in seed capital and is looking at targeting a size between $500 million and $1 billion.
The firms will look at opportunities in Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the UK, and Canada through the fund while also opportunistically investing in deals in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, according to the company statement.
A key theme for the fund will be to support businesses on their energy and climate transition journey. About $6.9 trillion of investment is needed annually to meet development and climate needs globally, according to OECD estimates. The situation is pressing in Asia Pacific where the Asian Development Bank has estimated an annual requirement of $1.7 trillion.
The latest strategy between Muzinich and Orion3 follows the footsteps of other established private equity players also raising infrastructure debt funds. BlackRock last month secured the first $1.3 billion of its Global Infrastructure Debt Fund II, which is targeting $2.5 billion. Brookfield raised over $6 billion for its infrastructure debt fund in November, making it the world’s largest private infrastructure debt fund.
Orion3 is an Asia-Pacific focused alternative investment firm. CK Asset Holdings is a shareholder in Orion3. The firm was co-founded by Rowena Chu and Harry Chang in 2021, according to their LinkedIn profiles.
Muzinich is a privately owned, institutionally focused investment firm specialising in public and private corporate credit, managing around $35 billion in assets. The firm was founded in New York in 1988 and has 15 offices in the US, Europe, and Asia.
