JP Morgan Asset Management, the global investment and wealth management firm, has raised over $95 million commitment for an India-specific ‘sidecar’ fund. The sidecar fund, an over-allocation pool giving the fund manager an opportunity to invest in larger deal opportunities, is being raised for JP Morgan’s Asian infrastructure fund.
A report in Pension & Investments states that the State of Michigan Retirement Systems has committed $70 million to the fund, which is invested in two toll roads in India. The investment is part of the overall $1.685 billion commitments made by Michigan Retirement Systems to funds of Apax Partners, Parthenon Group, Credit Suisse and others.
In its filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November last year, the company stated that JPMorgan AIRRO India SideCar Fund US, LLC raised $95 million from two investors. However, it cannot be ascertained if any other sidecar fund has been floated since. Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System is another investor in the sidecar fund and has put in $25 million. Ontario Securities Commission, a provincial regulatory agency in Canada, has also said in its filing that an investor has committed over $10 million to the fund.
According to VCCEdge, JP Morgan has invested in Hyderabad-based Soma Group’s highway projects unit and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd (NICE). NICE, which is developing the 164 km tollway between Bangalore and Mysore, raised $110 million in December 2010 while Soma raised a similar amount in September last year.
It had also reportedly invested $400 million in Nikhil Gandhi-promoted SKIL Infrastructure, which controls ship-builder Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Ltd.
JP Morgan’s Asian Infrastructure & Related Resources Opportunity (AIRRO) Fund closed at $858.6 million in February 2010. The fund received commitments from investors, including institutional ones and high-net worth individuals, from the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
