Dubai-listed National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) and the World Bank’s private sector arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), are looking to set up an investment platform that will deploy $400 million in capital in Asian markets.

The new initiative will invest in district cooling, trigeneration and cooling as a service offering, with primary focus on India and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Tabreed said its partnership with IFC aims to build on its ongoing development activities in India, following the establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary in the Asian state.

It also seeks to provide more energy efficient cooling services through an outsourced utility model for properties, including new urban masterplans and ongoing redevelopments.

Fragmented market

Tabreed noted that the cooling service market in India remains “relatively embryonic” due to real estate developers making their own individual and varied cooling technology choices. It also noted that the ecosystem of service providers in the country is fragmented.

“The size and dynamism of India and other Southeast Asian countries will keep them at the heart of the global energy system with all roads to a successful global clean energy transition going via India,” said Bader Saeed Al Lamki, Tabreed’s chief executive officer.

“Sustainable cooling plays a crucial role in materialising this vision. As a global leader in creating markets for climate businesses, we are proud to be collaborating with the IFC, who also enjoys a significant advisory and investment presence in the region.”

The company confirmed recently that it is looking to buy more assets this year as part of its growth strategy. Last year, it acquired an 80 percent stake in Emaar’s district cooling business in Downtown Dubai, as well as Aldar Properties’ 50 percent stake in Saadiyat Cooling.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Daniel Luiz)

Cleofe.maceda@refinitiv.com

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