Singaporean investor Seraya Partners is preparing to launch an Australian infrastructure platform backed by its Fund II capital raise, sources said.

It will focus on renewables, batteries and data centres in the country, it is understood.

The launch comes as Seraya nears the final close of Fund II, aiming for its USD 2bn hard cap, the sources added.

Seraya Partners had been targeting USD 1.5bn to USD 2bn for the fund, which has been in the market since early last year and is expected to reach final close by the middle of this year, the sources told NPM.

The fund manager is in active discussions to hire senior talent to support the launch of the Australian development and investment platform, the sources added.

It sees Australia as an important market and typically looks for an internal rate of return of 15% to 20%. It can make cornerstone acquisitions to enter new markets or can build platforms from the ground-up.

Seraya made its inaugural Fund II investment on January 9 when it pledged USD 250m in equity to buy a controlling stake in South Korean solar and wind developer and operator G&B Infratech.

G&B Infratech owns and operates a 200 MW portfolio of utility scale solar and onshore wind projects with 20-year offtake contracts and has exclusivity over a 1 GW development pipeline, according to an announcement at the time.

In June, Seraya said it would invest up to USD 500m in Faraday Energy, a joint venture with Schneider Electric as its technology partner.

Faraday Energy plans to use the equity to grow across Asia Pacific and select international markets and plans to develop, finance, own and operate distributed and customer-sited energy projects.

Seraya Partners declined to comment.