Prostar Capital, a mid-market infrastructure manager, has launched its first investment vehicle dedicated to Asia Pacific, according to three sources familiar.

The target is USD 400m. Prostar Capital began soft-marketing the fund to potential anchor limited partners (LPs) earlier this quarter, two of the sources said.

Jefferies is the placement agent, the same sources said.

The new fund will focus on energy transition assets including natural gas, renewables and hydrogen projects, said one of the sources. It will target OECD markets in Asia Pacific, including Australia.

Prostar Capital, which manages over USD 800m in assets, has previously focused on midstream opportunities such as processing, storage, transmission and distribution assets.

In Asia, it is invested in Kyungnam Energy, a South Korean city gas distribution business, of which it acquired over 95% alongside co-investor BlackRock in 2017.

Elsewhere, the fund manager’s existing investments are US-based gas transportation firm Eureka Midstream, United Arab Emirates-based bulk liquid storage facility Fujairah Oil Terminal, and GTI Statia, a bulk liquid storage terminal located on a Dutch island in the Caribbean.

In September 2023, Prostar Capital sold GTI Fujairah, a 350,000m3-capacity UAE flexible bulk liquid storage terminal, to Bahrain-headquartered commodity trader Mercantile & Maritime Group.

Established in 2012, Prostar invests in companies with enterprise valuations of less than USD 1bn. It operates from offices in Greenwich Connecticut, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Sydney.

In October the manager appointed Daniel Han, who previously served as Korea Lead for Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, as its new Head of Korea.

Prostar Capital is helmed by co-founders Steve Bickerton, an ex-chief executive of ASX-listed Challenger Infrastructure Fund, and Dave Noakes, formerly Principal at New York-based real estate investor Alpine Grove Partners.

Prostar Capital and Jefferies declined to comment.