Australia’s IFM Investors, a pension-owned asset manager with A$291.6 billion ($204.8 billion) under management, has opened an office in Singapore to expand its private-credit and private-markets business in Asia.
In a post on Monday, IFM Investors said the Singapore office, also its fourth in the Asia-Pacific after Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo, will support local deal origination and execution, especially in diversified credit. Asia was under-allocated by institutional investors, with relatively under-penetrated private markets and rising demand for flexible financing, IFM Investors stressed.
The office opening follows a A$175 million commitment to IFM’s Asia-Pacific private-credit strategy by the Australian government, through its export-credit agency Export Finance Australia. The commitment, made under a Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility, targets businesses in industrials, manufacturing, services, renewable energy, telecommunications, and real assets.
IFM Investors is owned by 15 Australian industry pension funds and one UK pension fund. It serves more than 880 institutional investors from 18 offices. Australia’s pension system, among the world’s fastest-growing, managed A$4.5 trillion ($3.1 trillion) and can reach A$8.3 trillion ($5.4 trillion) in the 2030s, prompting funds to invest more overseas for growth and diversification, according to IFM Investors.
Hiran Wanigasekera, executive director and co-head of Asia-Pacific diversified credit, said the office reflected IFM’s conviction in Asia as a long-term destination. Asia-Pacific private credit is at an inflection point, with the market growing nearly fourfold over the past 15 years from a low base, the executive added.