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BlackRock’s GIP, Temasek’s Pentagreen hire senior for Asia debt deals
Private financing firms are expanding their infrastructure debt teams as Singapore pushes to reduce carbon emissions across Southeast Asia.
Global Infrastructure Partners LP, the private markets unit of BlackRock Inc., recently hired Saul Raccah, who is Singapore-based, as managing director for infrastructure private debt with a focus on Southeast Asia, according to his LinkedIn profile and sources familiar with the matter.
Pentagreen Capital, a sustainable infrastructure debt platform backed by HSBC Holdings Plc and Temasek Holdings Pte., has named Vaibhav Totla managing director for debt investments in sustainable infrastructure, according to a LinkedIn announcement.
Infrastructure has become one of the fastest-growing segments in private markets, with assets under management reaching US$1.3 trillion in 2024, more than 4x the size a decade earlier, according to digital wealth management platform Endowus.
GIP, HSBC, and Pentagreen Capital are supporting a Singapore government initiative known as the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P), which aims to raise US$5 billion from public, private, and philanthropic sources to fund energy transition projects.
🔗 Source: Bloomberg
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
FAST-P blended finance plan lacks a path to make marginal projects viable
- GIP hit a US$510 million first close toward a US$1 billion fund 1. The plan gives little on first-loss tranches (junior capital that absorbs initial losses) or guarantee structures (credit protections) to bridge the bankability gap (the shortfall between a project’s risk/return profile and what commercial lenders can accept).
- The partnership will use senior secured, unsecured, mezzanine or subordinated debt 2. Pricing, risk split between concessional and commercial capital providers (concessional capital refers to funding offered on below market terms) and minimum screens are unclear. A US$55 million loan in the Philippines to Citicore, a local renewable energy developer 3, kept terms undisclosed and left replication across rules hard.
Developers and lenders need tech to meet ASEAN Taxonomy checks
- Projects under Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) must align with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance where applicable 4. The taxonomy sets screens and environmental and social checks. It also needs monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV).
- Tech firms can build Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools to automate screening and use Internet of Things (IoT) sensors for energy and emissions data. These tools can standardize Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reports and deliver auditable, tamper proof data for fund governance and investor checks. Demand should grow as GIP holds an Environmental and Social (E&S) category A label for possible hydropower and waste work 2, while Pentagreen seeks more institutional capital toward the US$1 billion target 1.
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