Stonepeak Investing Up to $650M in Singapore-based AGP Sustainable Real Assets

US infrastructure private equity firm Stonepeak is injecting as much as $650 million into a Singapore-based investment firm specialising in green infrastructure as it continues to expand its bets in Asia Pacific.

Stonepeak announced on Friday that it has made a “strategic, preferred investment” into AGP Sustainable Real Assets, a five-year old company backed by partners from Singapore investment manager Avila Capital and alumni of renewable energy player Equis Funds, to help grow the firm’s global portfolio of infrastructure and real assets spanning data centres, renewable energy, housing and logistics sectors.

The fresh capital, which market sources pegged at as much as $650 million, is targetted for deployment across AGP’s existing businesses, as well as new ventures, with Sydney-based Ben Salmon, who co-founded Bengaluru-based Assetz Property Group in 2005 and Rajpal Singh Chaudhary, a former founding partner of Equis Funds, both listed as founding partners in the Singapore-based firm.

“We look forward to partnering closely with AGP’s management team, who has over 20 years of experience, on the development, construction, and operation of sustainable infrastructure,” Hajir Naghdy, senior managing director at Stonepeak, said in a statement over the weekend. “The opportunity to invest in sustainable asset creation and the exposure across multiple geographies make this partnership a strong fit for Stonepeak’s Asia infrastructure strategy.”

Green Beds, Sheds, Data Centres

Stonepeak did not disclose the scale of its AGP stake, however, the company said it expects to  bring expertise to AGP’s management team as a strategic capital partner. The investment is set to close within the fourth quarter.

AGP currently has a portfolio of over 12 gigawatts of renewable energy assets across the globe, as well as five million square feet (465,000 square metres) of logistics warehouses and about 20 million square feet of community housing in India. The firm has also invested in 310 megawatts of data centre capacity through a joint venture with Digital Edge – a Singapore-based operator also backed by Stonepeak.

With its fresh firepower, among the new business opportunities AGP has lined up is an investment strategy targeting the intersection of agriculture, land regeneration, renewable energy and storage, according to the sources.

“We are thrilled to be working with such a high caliber partner in Stonepeak and foresee this investment as a powerful catalyst for our forward trajectory,” said Ben Salmon, one of the founding partners at AGP. “Our aim is to seamlessly integrate energy and community infrastructure, developing innovative sustainable solutions that meet society’s evolving needs.”

Law firms Sidley Austin and Clifford Chance acted as legal counsels to Stonepeak and AGP, respectively.

Assetz-Backed Startup

AGP welcomed the capital injection roughly 10 months after it ventured into India’s data centre space in January through a $2-billion partnership with Digital Edge, a data centre company in Stonepeak’s portfolio, and state-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

The firm also operates green townships and warehouses in Bangalore through Assetz Property Group, with much of that company’s leadership also having senior roles in Assetz Group Partners, the initials of which align with AGP.

Some of AGP’s founding partners were part of the team that set up Assetz nearly two decades ago, including Salmon, a former LendLease executive who currently chairs the Bangalore-based developer.

Fomer Equis found Chaudhary, who once held roles at JLL and CBRE, is also a co-founding partner of AGP and Assetz. Both Salmon and Chaudhary are partners at Avila Capital, a private equity investment and consulting firm set up in the Lion City in 2007. Investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to buy Equis Energy, a Singapore-based developer of renewable power projects for $5 billion in January 2018.

In 2017, Assetz joined hands with Logos Property, an Australian logistics developer now part of the enlarged ESR Group, in an Indian logistics joint venture. Kushal Bolaria, a Mumbai-based former fund manager with Logos, now identifies as chief executive of AGP’s industrial division, and a partner in the firm, on his LinkedIn profile.

Bullish on APAC

Stonepeak’s investment in AGP marks the latest in its string of APAC commitments over the past three years, the biggest of which is the $1 billion it committed in setting up Digital Edge in 2020.

Since then, Singapore-based Digital Edge has built a portfolio of 17 data centres with more than 500MW of capacity across six countries.

With $57 billion in assets under management, Stonepeak also set up a joint venture with Singapore-based builder Equalbase in September of last year. The partners are building logistics assets across the region, starting with an Equalbase project in Seoul, South Korea.

At the time that the Equalbase deal was unveiled, the two companies also declared plans to enter Malaysia’s logistics sector.