By Paulina Duran
SYDNEY, April 7 (Reuters) - Pan-Asian credit hedge fund OCP Asia Ltd is seeking to raise up to $800 million to invest in direct loans, as it expects to find plenty of cash-starved companies seeking funding in Australia and South East Asia, it said on Tuesday.
The firm raised about $250 million for its fourth fund at its first close on March 31, half the amount it targets, said Dan Simmons, a Hong-Kong-based partner. It expects final close of the fund by June and to cap the raising at $800 million.
"This is a tough time to raise money but we are seeing a lot of opportunities at the moment," Simmons told Reuters on the phone.
The fund would seek to lend directly to small and middle-sized companies in a range of industries including the real estate, logistics, infrastructure and consumer sectors. It will not invest in any of the companies in which its funds already invest, Simmons added.
The raising comes amidst turbulent capital markets globally due to the coronavirus pandemic, and at a time when companies in the Asia Pacific need to raise a near record $69.3 billion to refinance their existing borrowings in the second quarter alone, according to Refinitiv data.