S’pore private equity manager Seraya adds $969m offshore wind company to its renewables platform

SINGAPORE – Singapore-headquartered private equity manager Seraya Partners has added a A$1.1 billion (S$969 million) offshore wind company to its portfolio, seven months after the close of its maiden fund at US$800 million.

MMA Offshore, a vessel operator that was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, will now be part of Cyan Renewables, a company founded and majority-owned by Seraya.

The acquisition was supported by a group of co-investors, including the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, which manages public and pension funds in Canada and owns a stake in Cyan.

Renewable infrastructure has become a hot space. Preqin data shows US$808.8 billion (S$1.09 trillion) has been raised since 2019 by private market funds with exposure to renewable energy. Of this amount, 71.6 per cent has gone into infrastructure. A record 59 per cent of private infrastructure deals in 2023 were in renewable energy.

Seraya’s fund is dedicated to Asian infrastructure, with a particular focus on mid-market deals in the energy transition and digital infrastructure sectors.

It has allocated money to three platforms: Cyan, a pure-play offshore wind farm vessel operator; Empyrion DC, a green data centre operator; and Astrid Renew, which is developing solar, wind and energy storage solutions.

The fund has a value-add strategy, which Mr James Chern, Seraya’s managing partner and chief investment officer, said is the segment of the infrastructure market with the “lowest risk and optimal return”, given the current interest rate environment.

Mr Lee Keng Lin, Cyan’s chief executive, said the offshore wind industry suffers from a shortage of vessels and talent.

“A lot of decision-makers are Europe-centric,” Mr Lee said, saying they are not familiar with the Asia landscape, and that Cyan hopes to act as a bridge, and thus create value for investors.

THE BUSINESS TIMES