Southeast Asia-focused China fund raising up to $3 billion for Silk Road projects

HONG KONG — A quasi-sovereign Chinese fund focused on Southeast Asia is targeting raising up to $3 billion in a new dollar fund, adding to its firepower for planned investments under Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative, people close to the matter said.

The China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund (CAF), backed by the Export- Import Bank of China, is pitching the fund to prospective investors, they said.

Its plan to raise $ 1 billion mainly from Chinese state-owned enterprises was already known, but the fund has now tripled the amount it is seeking.

The planned capital-raising is the latest in a series by China’s state-backed firms and comes as the country’s landmark Belt and Road scheme has been ploughing billions of dollars into global infrastructure projects.

Beijing has called on financial firms to develop overseas lending businesses to help connect China with old and new trading partners such as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). China’s statecontrolled banks have already responded by raising billions.

Established in 2010, one year after then-premier Wen Jiabao pledged to set up a $10-billion fund to provide financing for major projects in ASEAN countries, CAF primarily invests in infrastructure, energy and natural resources in the region. It typically invests $50 million to $150 million in single companies and prefers minority stake investments, according to its Web site.

Its portfolio includes stakes in Philippines’ top shipping and logistics firm Aboitiz Transport Systems, Thailand’s largest deepwater port Laem Chabang Port and largest biomass power generator National Power Supply Public. —