IFM Investors opens Singapore office to grow Asia private credit push

IFM Investors opens Singapore office to grow Asia private credit push

Sat, September 5, 2026 at 7:18 AM GMT+3 2 min read

Australian pension giant IFM Investors is opening a Singapore office to ramp up its activity in Asian private credit. This will be its fourth APAC office after Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

The Singapore office will expand its Asian private market capabilities, especially in diversified credit through local origination and execution capabilities, shared IFM in a statement.

The A$291.6 billion ($204.8 billion) global pension capital investor will also deploy up to half of a roughly $1 billion private credit fund to other Asian markets, shared IFM's co-head of APAC diversified credit Hiran Wanigasekera to Bloomberg.

This will see the Melbourne-based firm diversify its private credit exposure, most of which is still focused on its home markets of Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Some 25-35% of the fund will be deployed across Southeast Asia and South Asia, which will give IFM exposure to industries less found in developed markets such as manufacturing, Wanigasekera added.

IFM's push into Asian private credit is backed by Export Finance Australia, a government agency which invested $175 million into the firm.

A number of global investors have opened Asian private credit mandates in recent years, including Partners Group's $1 billion open-ended evergreen structure for Asia and KKR's $1.8 billion Asia Credit Opportunities Fund II.

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Elsewhere in the region, Asian fund managers like Granite Asia and Temasek's SeaTown have also launched private credit vehicles aimed at capitalizing on the growth of this asset class.

While US and European private credit continues to suffer reputational damage from the
unraveling of Ares and Blue Owl Capital's investments, Asia has remained largely unscathed.

Asia's long-term growth fundamentals and stringent banking regulations often mean that high-growth businesses are typically locked out of debt raising opportunities and face limited options for credit.

For some, this signals an opportunity for investors to participate in the growth of an underrepresented asset class while giving allocators the chance to diversify their developed market-oriented portfolios.

Sydney Bay. Australia

Luis Castaneda Inc./Getty Images

This article originally appeared on PitchBook News