Macquarie Group Ltd, Australia's largest investment bank, and China Everbright Ltd plan to raise US$1.5 billion for two funds to invest in infrastructure projects in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Macquarie and Everbright will contribute a combined $100 million to the funds, which will invest in toll roads, airports, renewable energy, water treatment, ports and railways in China, the bank said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

"China has a long history of private and foreign sector investment in infrastructure, with well-developed national policies promoting infrastructure investment to improve business efficiency and national wealth, whilst encouraging foreign capital and operating expertise," Everbright CEO Chen Shuang said.

The importance of private capital in China is demonstrated in the nearly 60 listed infrastructure operators with a combined market capitalization of over $150 billion.

One of the funds planned by Macquarie and Everbright will target international institutional investors and focus on industries where foreign investment is encouraged by the Chinese government. The second fund, whose establishment awaits regulatory approval, will target domestic investors and allow yuan capital commitments, it said.

The funds, to be managed by asset management companies jointly owned by Macquarie and Everbright, have targeted a first close in 2010, it said. They will invest alongside each other and have the same investment mandates, the statement said.

Macquarie is one of the largest infrastructure fund managers globally, with over 25 listed and unlisted funds managing over 100 infrastructure assets, with $36 billion of infrastructure equity under management as of the end of June.

Everbright is the Hong Kong listed subsidiary of China Everbright Group, a State-owned enterprise and the first formally registered financial conglomerate in the nation.

Despite the global financial crisis, the IMF forecasts that the Chinese economy will continue to grow at 6 to 10 percent per annum in the foreseeable future, which encourages investors from home and abroad to join the infrastructure development, Chen said.

"The rate of investment into infrastructure development in China is still believed to be among the highest in the world. We see many opportunities to bring international capital and asset management expertise to support this growth, to the benefit of investors and the country," Chen said.

(China Daily August 20, 2009)