Seraya Partners, a Singapore-headquartered investor in next-generation infrastructure, has recruited Thomas Yu from placement agent Thrive Alternatives to lead investor relations (IR), according to a source close to the situation. The move comes as Seraya prepares to launch its second fund in 2025.
Yu – who confirmed his new role but declined to comment further – has spent the last two-and-a-half years as a managing director at Thrive, leading LP coverage in Australia and Hong Kong, and select other markets in Asia. He also oversaw certain GP fundraising mandates.
Before Thrive, Yu worked for Eaton Partners for nearly three years, latterly serving as Asia Pacific head.
More significant given his latest career move is an earlier 18-year stint at UBS, of which 13 years was with the infrastructure and private equity team. Based in Sydney and then Hong Kong, Yu was involved in infrastructure transactions, ranging from wind farms to telecom towers.
Seraya was established by James Chern, who was previously a founding member and head of Asia at global infrastructure investor I Squared Capital. He serves as CIO and managing partner. His brother Ivan Chern, formerly a managing director at RRJ Capital, also holds a managing partner role.
The firm, which focuses on digital infrastructure and energy transition, closed its debut fund on USD 800m in December 2023, exceeding the USD 750m target. It is supported by global institutional investors, including Alberta Investment Management Company (AIMCo), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and BlackRock.
Fund I is more than 50% deployed. Yu, who is relocating to Singapore, is being brought in to lay the ground for the second vintage. His job title is managing director with responsibility for IR.
Seraya builds platforms from scratch in developed Asia, typically writing cheques of around USD 100m for each investment. The Fund I portfolio features Empyrion Digital, a data centre operator designed to rely on renewable and hydrogen energy sources, and Cyan Renewables, which runs a fleet of vessels that service offshore wind farms.
Empyrion has one data centre in Singapore and a development footprint stretching from Southeast Asia to South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Cyan has grown from zero to 15 vessels in less than 18 months and the plan is to expand a currently Europe-centric business into Asia.
Seraya Partners declined to comment.