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Singapore Energy-Saving Firm Wins $33 Million KKR Investment 

Singapore Energy-Saving Firm Wins $33 Million KKR Investment 

(Bloomberg) -- KKR & Co. is buying a stake of as much as S$45 million ($33 million) in Barghest Building Performance, a Singapore provider of energy saving solutions, in the private equity firm’s first impact investment globally.

It’s investing as part of a Series B fundraising for BBP, which helps companies throughout Asia reduce electricity consumption by digitizing air-conditioning systems. The company plans to use the funds to grow its business in the region, invest in new technology and hire more staff, according to BBP Chief Executive Officer Poyan Rajamand.

“Customers come to us because our solution allows them to save energy today,” Rajamand said in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg Television. “With advanced analytics that we have at the back end, we can help them save more and more, year after year.”

Global private private equity firms including KKR, TPG and Bain Capital LP have been pushing into impact investing, the idea of seeking both financial return and social benefit. KKR is currently raising funds for investments with this purpose as well as several other strategies, it said on its October earnings call.

TPG plans to start seeking $3 billion for its second social impact fund this year, while Bain Capital raised $390 million in 2017 for a fund that focuses on mission-oriented North American companies. Ashish Shastry, KKR’s Southeast Asia head, declined to comment on any impact fundraising by the firm.

Regional Expansion

BBP, which counts chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. and hotelier Shangri-La Asia Ltd. as clients, can help cut a building’s energy consumption by as much as 40 percent, Rajamand said. The six-year-old company uses sensors, software algorithms, equipment controls and engineering design to try to cut electricity consumption in air-conditioning systems in commercial and industrial buildings.

It plans to expand to the Philippines and possibly South Korea and Japan, Rajamand told Bloomberg earlier this week. The company’s existing markets include China, India and Taiwan. BBP could grow its headcount by about half, to 60 people, by the end of next year, he said.

The BBP deal adds to almost $900 million of investments KKR has announced in Southeast Asia this year, more than double last year’s volume, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. KKR agreed this month to invest as much as S$500 million in V3 Group Ltd., the Singapore-based luxury retailer that owns brands including Osim massage chairs and TWG Tea.

It has also pumped S$200 million into PropertyGuru Pte, the region’s biggest real estate portal, and took a stake in Philippine technology firm Voyager Innovations Inc.

“We hope that this momentum of investing will be the new normal for KKR in Southeast Asia,” KKR’s Shastry said. “We’re at the beginning of a very interesting time for innovation” in the region.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joyce Koh in Singapore at jkoh38@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.