US-headquartered debt-financing firm Ethos Asset Management will invest US$940 million ($1.3 billion) in Southeast Asia over the next three years, with a focus on the energy, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors.
In a press release dated Aug 17, the firm said that its expansion into Southeast Asia comes after its US$1 billion investment into India. In total, Ethos will look to invest close to US$2 billion in Asia, on “high-level projects with long-term sustainability”.
Ethos’ investments are in the form of debts that secure its positions through financial guarantees, and their projects have mainly been within the private sector with two types of tickets – US$10 million to US$49 million, and more than US$50 million.
Noting that Southeast Asia’s economy grew at an average of 6.7 percent every year between 2010 and 2021, twice as fast as the global average of 3 percent, the firm believes that the region will be the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by urbanisation and technology.
“We are extremely excited to bring our financing facilities to SEA and Hong Kong and expand our reach across this region. This is an important step towards our global purpose, with Thailand being a big first step in our business development plans in the region. We are also seeing strong potential across the region, which has observed a rapidly growing project and infrastructure financing deficit in recent years. Together with our team equipped with country- and sector-specific expertise, SEA is the perfect platform to demonstrate our impact in economics, communities, and environment,” says Carlos Santos, founder and chief executive officer of Ethos.
