DEAL - INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Arendt & Medernach SA and Arendt & Medernach, Hong Kong - Expanding their offering in global infrastructure investments, AMOAI (formerly known as Mizuho GAI) and its partners have recently announced the joint development of an investment scheme targeted at infrastructure debt.

The fund, named Cosmic Blue PF Lotus FCP-RAIF, which is the second infrastructure debt fund managed by AMOAI, is this time domiciled in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg under the form of a reserved alternative investment fund (RAIF).

This new fund aims at connecting the capital of Japanese investors with the global infrastructure markets and offering attractive investment opportunities to investors as well as supporting the financing of the infrastructure industry, which is indispensable for the sustainable growth of countries and local communities invested in.

With this new fund AMOAI also aims at increasing its presence as an asset manager specialising in infrastructure debt, and will continue to develop new investment products that satisfy the needs of institutional investors.

Arendt’s teams in Luxembourg and Hong Kong are proud to have assisted AMOAI in relation to this fund setup, accompanying them in the transition from setting up Cayman vehicles to Luxembourg domiciled funds, in this case, as a non-regulated FCP-RAIF.

Gilles Dusemon, Partner in the Private Equity & Real Estate team of Arendt, commented: “The RAIF, and to an extent our non-regulated special limited partnerships (SLPs), were the missing link for managers used to Cayman vehicles and looking for the same level of flexibility in an onshore and AIFMD compliant framework. US and Asian managers have been made aware of those vehicles and are using them”.

Stephane Karolczuk, Partner in the Investment Management team of the firm and head of its Hong Kong office, added “This move of a large Japanese financial institution from Cayman fund structures to Luxembourg RAIF vehicles is the materialisation of a trend to setup funds onshore, build the proper substance in the EU and leave the door open to possible European distribution. We are delighted to have partnered with AMOAI on this and we anticipate that a number of other Asian managers will follow them”.

Hironobu Nakamura, Chief Investment Officer of AMOAI, commented: “We greatly appreciate all the hard work that was put in to this project by Arendt. This was our first time setting up a Luxembourg vehicle for our investors and although this was a new challenge, Arendt’s support made the transition a smooth one”.