Singapore-based Evergreen Assets Management is raising a $73 million (S$100 million), five-year, closed-end fund to finance the expansion of its business in Indochina and Singapore, the company said in a press statement on Tuesday.
So far, Evergreen has received commitments for around S$25 million from accredited investors. The company has engaged Davy J Goh, of Passion Venture Capital, as the fund manager.
Using the proceeds, Evergreen plans to start expanding in Cambodia through a micro-financing business. In March this year, the company had received a financial institute (FI) licence, from the National Bank of Cambodia, to conduct micro-financing.
The FI licence will enable Evergreen to help small businesses in a bigger way, said CEO David Yong in the statement. “We hope our micro-finance business, under Evergreen will contribute to the growth of Cambodia where there is an urgent need for financing to keep SMEs [small and medium enterprises] and individuals going. We also intend to reach out to other demographic segments such as women in Cambodia who are usually overlooked by banks, to empower them to make their own livelihood,” he added.
In the past few years, Evergreen has been providing secured debt financing in the Indochina region via private equity, offering a non-bank alternative source of loans to businesses.
Although the fund will focus on Cambodia initially, Evergreen has a pipeline of investments for Myanmar and Vietnam as well, which will materialise in the next 18 months. Evergreen has FI licences in Vietnam and also in Myanmar, where it made its mark in the timber business 30 years ago.
The company also plans to invest a small portion of the fund in Singapore’s automotive sector.
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