Keppel Reaches First Closings Worth $410M for New Real Estate Funds

Singapore’s Keppel Capital achieved a pair of fund-raising milestones this past week as the company’s real estate investment management subsidiary, Alpha Investment Partners, reached first closings worth a combined $410 million for a pair of closed-end property funds.

Alpha brought in $130 million for its Alpha Data Centre Fund (DC Fund), a $500 million investment vehicle which it has organised together with sister company, Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation (Keppel T&T), according to a statement from Alpha.

In the same statement, the investment manager also revealed that it had successfully raised $280 million in the first close of its Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund (AAMTF) III, with that vehicle targetting $1 billion for a pan-Asian strategy.

When fully invested, the two new private funds are expected to add as much as US$3.5 billion to Keppel’s total assets under management.

“We are encouraged by the good interest that our new private funds are receiving from repeat as well as new institutional investors from around the world,” noted Christina Tan, CEO of Keppel Capital and Managing Director of Alpha. Tan added that, “Through thematic investment platforms such as the DC Fund and AAMTF III, Keppel Capital is well positioned to create innovative investment solutions and connect our investors with high-grade assets in fast-growing sectors fuelled by sustainable urbanisation trends”

Data Fund Brings Together Keppel Tech and Property Units

The achievement for the data centre fund came on the same day that Keppel T&T announced new contracts worth S$144 million ($105 million) with unnamed clients for use of space and services at its Keppel DC Singapore 3 facility and at its soon-to-be-completed Keppel DC Singapore 4.

Keppell, which also manages a data centre-specific real estate investment trust (REIT) launched its data centre fund as a collaborative effort between Alpha and Keppel Data Centres Holding, which is in turn a 70-30 joint venture between Keppel T&T and Keppel Land Limited.

The fund was set up to secure a portfolio of greenfield and brownfield assets across key data centre hubs in Asia-Pacific and Europe, according to Alpha. Keppel Data Centres also says it plans to inject a seed asset into the fund.

“We are well-poised to continue growing with our existing and new clients, as they expand their data centre needs globally,” said Thomas Pang, CEO of Keppel T&T. “As development projects are capital intensive, the DC Fund will enable Keppel T&T to seize more opportunities to grow our pipeline of quality data centres without depending solely on our own balance sheet.”

When fully invested, the DC Fund is expected to fund up to about US$1.0 billion worth of data centre projects.

Aiming for $1B For Third Pan-Asia Fund

Alpha’s $280 million for the latest instalment in its flagship pan-Asia fund is a first step in what the investment manager hopes will be a $1 billion investment vehicle. First launched in 2007, this latest version of the AAMTF fund is said to be targetting office, business park and logistic assets, among other property types, with the manager open to investing key gateway cities across the region.

The “macro trends” designation in the fund’s title refers to Alpha’s plan to follow trends in urbanisation, consumerism, tourism and aging, in driving yield for its investors, according to a statement from the company.

Alpha, which before these latest milestones was already managing six real estate funds with total assets under management of $8.6 billion, reached the first closes just a few week’s after Keppel Group restructured its asset management businesses under Keppel Capital, in an attempt to grow its asset management business and expand its capital base with co-investments.