German investor Patrizia is expecting to attract higher interest from European LPs for its Asian sustainable infrastructure fund, following the recent commitment secured from the EIB.

Saji Anantakrishnan, head of infrastructure, Australia and Asia at Patrizia told Infralogic that the EIB’s cornerstone commitment of USD 70m to the Emerging Asia Sustainable Infrastructure Fund (ESIF) will help “crystallise interest from both European private sector investors and other development finance institutions.”

“As a result, we are seeing additional institutions re-engage or accelerate their discussions with us and we do expect increased traction from European LPs in the months ahead,” Anantakrishnan added.

After securing EIB’s backing for ESIF, managed by PATRIZIA and Mitsui’s Australia-based joint venture Patrizia MBK Fund Management (PMBK), the German investor is eyeing a first close on the fund before the northern summer.

The infrastructure fund manager is aiming to have secured over USD 110m in the next few months, more than one third of its final target of USD 300m for ESIF, according to Anantakrishnan.

The fund, which is targeting returns of around 16%-18%, has a slightly higher target than its first emerging market focused fund EMIF, which launched in 2008 and closed at USD 273m.

One of the differences between ESIF and EMIF, both managed by PMBK, is that ESIF has a higher allocation to greenfield opportunities, reflecting the growing pipeline in early-stage clean energy infrastructure, Anantakrishnan explained.

Also, while the predecessor fund had a global emerging markets mandate, ESIF is focused specifically on emerging Asian markets.

With the addition of EIB as a cornerstone investor, which is expected to lure more European LPs into the fund, ESIF’s LP base will also inevitably evolve, as the previous fund’s investor base was primarily from the APAC region, according to Anantakrishnan.

ESIF, which focuses on mid-market equity investments in the range of USD 20m to USD 70m, will be seeded with a portfolio consisting of Philippine parking company Parkwise and solar power developer Buskowitz Energy, and Singapore-based regional cooling-as-a-service company Kaer.

The fund will continue to focus on high‑impact, energy-related sectors, with key areas of interest including C&I renewable energy platforms, particularly in India and Vietnam, and motorised scooter battery‑swapping platforms, Energy‑as‑a‑Service models, and BESS, Anantakrishnan said.