JPMorgan raising up to $1.5-B Asia infra fund [1]

Reuters | 02/22/2013 5:29 PM

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Fund will invest in projects in PH, China, Indonesia

MUMBAI/HONG KONG (UPDATE) - JPMorgan Chase & Co is seeking to raise between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in a dedicated fund to invest in core infrastructure assets across Asia, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. 

The Wall Street bank's second pan-Asian infrastructure fund is nearly double the size of its first fund raised in 2010, which is now nearly fully invested, the sources said. 

Global asset managers including Invesco, Eastspring, KBC Asset Management and AMP Capital have Asia-focused infrastructure funds aiming to benefit from the region's surging demand for investments in ports, roads and power stations. 

JPMorgan Asian Infrastructure & Related Resources Opportunity Fund II will invest in transportation, power generation, water and social infrastructure across China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and South Korea, the sources said. 

JPMorgan raised about $860 million in its first dedicated Asia infrastructure fund. The latest fund raising comes as Asia's biggest economies are pouring trillions of dollars into improving creaky infrastructure to keep up rapid growth. The Asian Development Bank estimates the region will require about $8 trillion in infrastructure by 2020. 

China and India, Asia's top two emerging economies, have announced $2.5 trillion worth of projects to improve their ports, roads and other infrastructure from 2011 to 2017, according to a Goldman Sachs report. 

The sources declined to be named, as they were not authorised to speak to the media since the fund raising was still private. 

A Hong Kong-based spokesman for JPMorgan declined to comment.