Actis will continue to focus on growing its Asia real estate business with an emphasis on the new economy following its acquisition by General Atlantic.
“There will be a focus on scaling the business more in Asia, including a harder look at adjacencies in Japan,” said Brian Chinappi, partner, and head of real estate at Actis.
PERE understands that Actis Asia Real Estate 2 has been fully deployed. Going forward, the firm will continue to launch dedicated real estate funds in the region. It will add Japan as an investment market for its next Asia real estate strategy as it seeks to scale its platform in the region.
In Japan, Actis will target real estate assets that are adjacent to its existing energy business. Last year, the firm launched Nozomi Energy, a new $500 million Japan-focused renewables platform.
“We can look at the synergies and our expertise in both real estate and infrastructure to drive greater investment value,” Chinappi said. “So Japan is a market that we will start to look at selectively in the real estate space as we have already had an infrastructure business there.”
The acquisition by General Atlantic will further sharpen the focus of Actis’s real estate strategy on real estate assets with “infra-like” characteristics in the new economy sector, such as data centers, logistics, life sciences and some selective traditional real estate sectors. The firm has raised a total of $1.45 billion across two opportunistic real estate funds Actis Asia Real Estate 1 and 2 since 2018.
Some of Actis’s real estate investments in Asia include the acquisition of Indian life science real estate firm RX Propellant and a partnership with Korean conglomerate GS Group to construct a $315 million data center in Pyeongchon.
Chinappi thought it was “key” that General Atlantic “recognized the value and potential” of the firm’s real estate business and its alignment with its infrastructure business. Actis centers its investments around macro trends such as digitalization, energy transition and sustainability.
General Atlantic was “particularly excited” about Actis’s real estate exposure in Asia where it could increase the firm’s footprint across different asset classes in the region, according to Chinappi.
The Actis real estate platform – which accounts for $2 billion, or 20 percent of the firm’s overall AUM – focuses on Asia with Korea, China and India as its three biggest markets. It also invests in Southeast Asia but on a relatively smaller scale than the major markets.
“General Atlantic has been a pioneer investor in emerging markets for as long as Actis has. And so there’s significant alignment around the growth opportunity in Asia,” said Chinappi. As of 2022, the private equity firm was reportedly looking to invest up to $2 billion into India and Southeast Asia over the next two years, as it sees attractive opportunities for private investments emerging from price correction, according to Reuters.
Both General Atlantic and Actis believe the economic and demographic growth trends in many Asia markets would drive increasing investment opportunities, according to Chinappi.
“Overall it’s business as usual but improved – our strategy towards real estate assets will not change, despite Actis’s recent partnership with General Atlantic,” said Chinappi.
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