Pentagreen Capital launches, Marat Zapparov appointed CEO
Singapore, 30 August 2022 – Pentagreen Capital (“Pentagreen”), a sustainable infrastructure debt financing partnership first announced by HSBC Holdings plc (“HSBC”) and Temasek in September 20211, was officially launched today.
Pentagreen is committed to accelerating the development of sustainable infrastructure in Asia by removing the barriers that can prevent marginally bankable projects from accessing capital. It will seek to achieve this through a combination of technical assistance and blended finance to catalyse other sources of capital, with support from its strategic partners.
Geographically, Pentagreen will initially target opportunities in Southeast Asia. The company’s primary focus will be on clean transport, renewable energy and energy storage, and water and waste management. Transactions in areas such as climate adaptation, agriculture and land use, and technology-led solutions as well as other geographies could be considered in the future.
Pentagreen’s strategic partners include the Asian Development Bank, which provides origination and technical support through its presence in countries throughout the region, and Singapore’s Clifford Capital Holdings, which has a strong focus on sustainable long-term financing solutions and is uniquely positioned to provide project finance expertise and operational support.
CEO appointment
Marat Zapparov is named Chief Executive Officer of Pentagreen Capital. Mr Zapparov brings close to two decades of experience to the company, including over 15 years in infrastructure, energy and real assets financing, during which time he worked with the International Finance Corporation, Clifford Capital and HSBC. Mr Zapparov will lead an independent team of seasoned business professionals with deep experience and expertise across various industries and geographies.
“I am excited to lead a company formed by two world-class institutions that are committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement and to developing the infrastructure ecosystem in Asia,” said Mr Zapparov. “Pentagreen is ideally positioned to be an alternative provider of debt capital to accelerate the development of sustainable infrastructure in Asia. We aim to fill the gap between traditional financing options from banks and development financiers and catalyse the flow of capital to innovative projects by bringing flexible debt financing solutions to the table.”
With a combined US$150 million of equity committed by the two founding partners, Pentagreen aims to deploy blended finance at scale over time. The platform aims to make over US$1 billion of loans within five years.
Board formation
Pentagreen will operate independently from HSBC and Temasek, and the two founding shareholders will be represented on Pentagreen’s board.
Pentagreen is also pleased to announce the formation of its Board of Directors, chaired by Kai Nargolwala, who is also the Board Chairman of Singapore Pools (Private) Limited and 65 Equity Partners. He will be joined on the Board by Marat Zapparov, CEO of Pentagreen; Stuart Lea, Head of Global Banking, South Asia and Global Head of Real Assets Finance, HSBC; Kelvin Tan, Head of Sustainable Finance & Investments, ASEAN, HSBC; and Connie Chan, Managing Director, Investment, Financial Services, Temasek.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Stuart Lea, Head of Global Banking South Asia and Global Head of Real Assets Finance at HSBC, said: “In Asia, many infrastructure projects face varying degrees of barriers to bankability. Pentagreen’s goal is to help remove those barriers and unlock other sources of capital. Market development for infrastructure financing requires long-term commitment and patient capital, which HSBC is proud to provide alongside our partners at Temasek.”
Connie Chan, Managing Director, Investment, Financial Services at Temasek, added, “As a long-term investor, we are committed to catalysing sustainable solutions that will contribute to the transition to net zero. We believe that we are in a critical decade to reverse the effects of climate change, and partnerships such as this demonstrate Temasek’s unwavering commitment to playing our part for a more sustainable world where every generation can prosper.”
Media enquiries to:
Pentagreen Capital
Noel Cheung | ncheung@ashburycommunications.com
| +852 9090 5165
Temasek
Paul Ewing-Chow | paulewingchow@temasek.com.sg
| +65 6828 6651
HSBC
Chantal Samonte
| chantal.samonte@hsbc.com.sg
| +65 8354 3665
Appendix
Kai NARGOLWALA
Kai S. Nargolwala is the Chairman of the Board of Singapore Pools (Private) Limited. He also serves on the Board of PSA International Pte Ltd and chairs the Boards of 65 Equity Partners Pte. Ltd. and Pentagreen Capital Pte. Ltd.
The career of Kai spanned several decades in the financial services industry in the UK, USA and Asia. At various times over the last 30 years, he has helmed the Asian businesses of Bank of America, Standard Chartered and Credit Suisse. He retired from executive roles at the end of 2011.
Kai previously served on the Boards of several listed companies including Credit Suisse Group AG, Prudential plc, Standard Chartered plc, Singapore Telecommunications Limited and Tate & Lyle plc. He was the Founding Chairman of Clifford Capital Holdings, a company guaranteed by the Singapore Government. He was also the former Chairman of Prudential Corporation
Asia Limited and Duke-NUS Medical School Governing Board. Additionally, he served as a Board member of the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore and was a member of Visa International’s Asia Pacific Advisory Board.
Kai is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales as well as the Singapore Institute of Directors. He earned his Honors Degree in Economics from the University of Delhi and is a Singapore citizen.
Kai was awarded the Public Service Star (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat) at the National Day Awards 2019 in recognition of his service to Singapore.
Marat ZAPPAROV
Marat brings close to two decades of experience including over 15 years in infrastructure, energy and real assets investments and financing. Prior to Pentagreen, Marat was head of the Asia “Upstream” unit at International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) within the manufacturing, agribusiness and services industry group, tasked with developing bankable projects across sustainable mobility, decarbonisation, waste and circular economy and other climate-smart real assets in Asia. Previously Marat was Senior Director of Infrastructure at Clifford Capital in Singapore and held roles in the HSBC Resources and Energy project finance group in Hong Kong and the KPMG Global Infrastructure group in London.
Marat holds a BSc in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Southampton in the UK and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Stuart LEA
Stuart Lea joined HSBC in 2005 and has over 30 years of global corporate and investment banking experience, with a particular focus on the infrastructure, utility and property sectors. Stuart has acted on more than 100 deals in over 40 markets, as advisor to private sector consortia, in an equity principal capacity and as a bank and bond underwriter.
In his current role, Stuart leads HSBC’s Global Banking franchise in South Asia from Singapore with responsibility for client coverage, risk and control across India, Southeast Asia and Australia, and is interim Head of Global Banking, North Asia. In addition, he is Global Head of Real Assets Finance, responsible for HSBC’s real estate business globally and client coverage, financing and advisory for a range of infrastructure and renewables sub-sectors.
Kelvin TAN
Kelvin Tan is the Head of Sustainable Finance & Investments, ASEAN, for HSBC. He oversees the provision of sustainability-linked finance; the development of innovative climate solutions; and leads cross-business and cross-market collaboration in sales enablement and risk management. Kelvin also works closely with other ASEAN CEOs to help them drive the conversation with external stakeholders.
Prior to this role, Kelvin Tan was Chief Executive Officer of HSBC in Thailand from 2015 to 2021, managing the bank’s franchise for the country. He was responsible for overseeing and growing HSBC’s Wholesale and Private Banking business. He also held several other senior roles during his tenure in Thailand, including the Chairman of the Association of International Banks in Thailand and was the founding member of the Thailand-United Kingdom business leadership council.
Previously, Kelvin held several other positions within HSBC, including Head of Commercial Banking in Singapore and Head of Large Corporates and Conglomerates in the Singapore Global Banking client management team.
Kelvin’s banking career spans over three decades; with a focus on corporates and MNCs across industries in Singapore and Asia Pacific. Prior to joining HSBC Singapore in 2009, he started his career with Citibank and had worked at JP Morgan and Société Générale.
Kelvin holds an MBA (Accountancy) degree from the Nanyang Technological University and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the National University of Singapore.
Connie CHAN
Connie Chan is a Managing Director at Temasek, responsible for investments globally in Financial Services, including banking, insurance, payments and other financial technology.
Prior to joining Temasek, Connie was in the Investment Banking division of JP Morgan in Hong Kong and New York, advising financial institution clients across subsectors on a range of corporate finance activities including mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity capital raisings.
Connie graduated from the University of Chicago with honors in Economics and also studied Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge University in the U.K.
About Pentagreen Capital
Pentagreen Capital is a debt financing company dedicated to catalysing sustainable infrastructure projects, with an initial focus on Southeast Asia. Based in Singapore, it seeks to remove barriers that prevent marginally bankable sustainable infrastructure projects from accessing capital, through a combination of technical assistance and blended finance at scale. Pentagreen will target opportunities in the renewable energy and storage, water and waste treatment, and sustainable transportation sectors, as it helps to build resilience to offset the global impact of climate change. For more information, please visit www.pentagreen.com.
About HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 63 countries and territories in its geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,985bn at 30 June 2022, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations. Please visit www.hsbc.com for more information.
About Temasek
Temasek is a global investment company with a net portfolio value of S$403bn (US$297b, €268b, £227b, RMB1.89t) as at 31 March 2022. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 12 offices in 8 countries around the world. The Temasek Charter defines its three roles as an Investor, Institution and Steward, and shapes its ethos to do well, do right and do good. Sustainability is at the core of all that Temasek does. It is committed to catalysing solutions to global challenges and activating capital – financial, human, social and natural – to bring about a better and more inclusive world for all. Please visit www.temasek.com.sg for more information.
About Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its effort to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members – 49 from the region. For more information, please visit www.adb.org.
About Clifford Capital Holdings
Clifford Capital Holdings is a specialist financing and distribution platform for real assets globally across the debt capital structure, headquartered in Singapore. It provides innovative and sustainable financing solutions to complement mainstream markets across the entire debt capital structure. The Group aims to build a globally competitive alternative financing platform closely aligned to Singapore’s economic growth initiatives in the infrastructure, maritime and other real assets sectors, and works in close collaboration with Singapore government agencies such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Economic Development Board, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and Enterprise Singapore. For more information, please visit www.cliffordcapitalholdings.sg.