Banyan Tree holds third close on $100m

The Singapore-listed leisure resort manager and developer aims to complete fundraising for the Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos development-focused fund this quarter. It is targeting between $300m and $400m.

Banyan Tree has held a third close on $100 million for its Banyan Tree Indochina Hospitality Fund.

The Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos development-focussed fund is still in its equity raising stage. It is targeting a total equity commitment of between $300 million and $400 million and aims to complete a fourth and final closing this quarter.

Banyan Tree has brought the amount of equity raised for the fund to $268 million (€197 million) after raising $100 million from a combination of $50 million of its own equity and equity from the fund’s other principle investors, HSBC Specialist Investments and the traditionally China-focussed private investment consortium Nan Fung Group. And additional $50 million was raised from an unnamed investor.

Banyan, HSBC and Nan Fung have committed $16.7 million each for the third closing, bringing the total invested by the partners to $150 million since the inception of the fund. The previous equity closings undertaken by the fund came in February last year, one month after the vehicle was launched, and last July, when $68 million was raised from a mix of other investors. HSBC was the placement agent for the fund.

The fund is focusing on the hospitality sector in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, although the latest equity raised will be used to finance the development of the fund’s main scheme, the Laguna Hue resort. The 686-acre scheme, near the Danang and Hue airports in central Vietnam, includes about 1,000 villas. The development of the first phase of the project is expected to start in the first half of this year.