CHINA will be the main target of a new US$1 billion closed-end fund established to make equity investments in infrastructure projects in Asia.
The first stage of the fund-raising has so far attracted $761 million and secured the involvement of the Singapore Government, the Bank of China and China International Trust and Investment Corp (CITIC).
A second and final stage to be completed within the next four months is expected to boost the fund, the AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund, to more than $1 billion.
Major investors in the fund are American International Group (AIG), through a wholly owned subsidiary, American International Reinsurance, with $100 million; the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GSIC), $200 million; Temasek Holdings, another investment arm of the Singapore Government, $50 million; and CITIC, $50 million. The rest are mainly American investors.
Described as ''the largest ever direct investment fund for emerging markets'', it was conceived by AIG, a leading US-based international insurance organisation, and Emerging Markets Partnership (EMP), which is headed by two former World Bank officials, Moeen Qureshi and Donald Roth.
Mr Qureshi, who served as interim prime minister of Pakistan from July to October last year, is EMP's chairman while Mr Roth, a former chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, is managing director.
