DBS creates dedicated project finance team

New unit will enable bank to better serve corporate and sovereign customers.

DBS Bank, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, announced on Wednesday that it has established a dedicated project finance team to better meet the needs of corporate and sovereign customers as a fast-developing Asia invests to build up its infrastructure.

Project finance is not new to DBS. As early as 2003, DBS was sole arranger and underwriter for Singapore’s first desalination plant, a project undertaken by Hyflux Ltd. Since then, DBS has extended its reach beyond Singapore and into the region. Across Asia, DBS has been involved as Mandated Lead Arranger for over USD 2.5 billion in project finance transactions in the last two years. This placed DBS consistently among the top 15 Mandated Lead Arrangers in the Asia Pacific (ex-Australasia) in 2008 and 2009, as stated in a DBS press statement on Wednesday.

While DBS has been an active participant in the project finance space across various industries, the bank is now setting up a dedicated team to further increase focus on the business and to better service customers amid growing demand for project financing in Asia. The team is led by Lim Wee Seng, Managing Director (Project Finance), at DBS. Lim reports to Amos Tan, Managing Director (Energy, Chemicals, Infrastructure), Institutional Banking Group. DBS said that with economic development in Asia, there will be rapid growth in infrastructure and strong demand for energy/ resources in many of DBS’ key growth markets, including China, India and Indonesia.

According to The Asian Development Bank, it is estimated that infrastructure investment in Asia will be USD 750 billion per year from 2010-2020. In particular, India and Indonesia are projected to make significant investments over the next few years to increase their power generation capacity so as to meet domestic consumption needs.