The Green Investments Partnership (GIP), a blended finance partnership under Singapore’s Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (Fast-P) initiative, has achieved its first close with US$510 million ($655.13 million) of committed capital from global and regional private, public and philanthropic institutions.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is part of the group of investors and financiers, which include the Australian government represented by Export Finance Australia, International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), HSBC, Temasek, British International Investment, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Allied Climate Partners.
The European Commission is supporting GIP under its Global Gateway programme.
According to a Sept 8 announcement, the capital will be deployed into green and sustainable infrastructure opportunities in Southeast and South Asia across a “strong pipeline” of transactions.
Pentagreen Capital, the sustainable infrastructure debt financing platform established by HSBC and Temasek, serves as the fund manager for GIP. GIP will deploy debt financing for climate-related, marginally bankable sustainable infrastructure projects across renewable energy and storage, electric vehicle infrastructure, sustainable transport, water and waste management and other sectors critical to Southeast and South Asia’s energy transition.
In November 2024, Pentagreen Capital announced that GIP is seeking to deploy US$1 billion for Asia’s sustainable infrastructure. In December 2024, the Australian government approved a US$50 million investment into GIP, its first investment under the A$2 billion ($1.75 billion) Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility (SEAIFF).
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The Singapore government launched Fast-P at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai in December 2023, with an aim to raise up to US$5 billion from public, private and philanthropic capital sources to support Asia’s decarbonisation and climate resilience.
GIP is the first fund under the Fast-P initiative to achieve a first close.
Gillian Tan, assistant managing director (development and international) and chief sustainability officer of MAS, says: “Pentagreen has brought together a diverse group of partners, which are participating across the different commercial and concessional tranches of the capital structure to de-risk and finance marginally bankable green infrastructure projects in the region. MAS welcomes participation by a broader community of partners in FAST-P to mobilise and scale blended finance for Asia’s transition.”
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In May, MAS managing director Chia Der Jiun announced that Fast-P would set up an office staffed by a “dedicated management team”.
The following month, MAS appointed Munib Madni as the first CEO of the Fast-P Office. Madni was formerly Asia CIO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
Madni says: “The Fast-P Office looks forward to continuing the work with Pentagreen, our partners in other pillars, and the broader ecosystem of commercial and concessional investors, to promote blended finance solutions for sustainable infrastructure in the region.”
GIP is one of three Fast-P partnerships. The other two are the Industrial Transformation infrastructure debt programme (ITP) and the Energy Transition Acceleration Finance (ETAF) partnership.
In November 2024, MAS and BlackRock announced they would spearhead ITP, signing a statement of intent at COP29 with the IFC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) and AIA Group.
Meanwhile, the ETAF will focus on grid infrastructure, battery storage and the early phase-out of coal plants. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) have joined as strategic partners.
Read more about the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (Fast-P):
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S’pore’s blended finance initiative Fast-P to set up office, management team (May)
Australia approves US$50 mil investment into Singapore’s Fast-P blended finance initiative (December 2024)
Temasek-backed Pentagreen to manage Fast-P’s Green Investments partnership, seeking to deploy US$1 bil (November 2024)
BlackRock, MAS spearhead collaboration on blended finance debt initiative (November 2024)
Singapore announces Asia-focused blended finance initiative Fast-P with US$5 bil target fund size (December 2023)
