CLSA Capital Partners' CRA ManagementPte Ltd. has launched a Clean Water Asia hedge fund. The fund, will be a long-only, principally listed equity focused fund for investors looking to take advantage of the considerable long-term water and waste management opportunities in Asia. Clean Water Asia has till now received commitments of $35 million initial investment has been from a London-based investment firm.
The new fund will work along the existing Clean Resources Asia and Clean Water Asia hedge funds. All these funds invest in firms that are predominantly in listed equity shares and pre-IPO private equity positions in companies operating profitably in clean energy and environmental technology fields. This is CLSA Capital Partners ninth fund and the total assets under managements are now approximately $3 billion.
CRA Principal and Head of Research Anthony Wilkinson believes that water and waste management is a fast growing and extremely undervalued industry sector. "The best companies in the water and waste sectors in Asia are now valued at a 2009 PE of 8X on the back of EPS growth of over 30%. This level of growth has been generally sustained despite the global slowdown and investors can now buy into a space that is substantially cheaper given a 55% PE de-rating since October 2007," said Wilkinson. CLSA Capital plans to roll out the clean investment platform into a full service group, from unlisted, through long-only, to hedge funds.