Jeddah-based Sidra Capital aims to expand its Shariah compliant operations within the Asia Pacific – with a focus on seeking opportunities within the private finance space and potential real estate investments, Asia Pacific Investments Head Azlan Firman shared with IFN Investor.
“Our other objective is to raise money from this region. We managed to get one Indonesian government wealth fund to invest in one of our funds. We are also targeting other public funds like Malaysia’s Lembaga Tabung Haji, Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei and Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura.”
The pool of funds currently available for investments by Sidra Capital is sourced mainly from Saudi Arabia – from clients comprising corporates, family offices, government agencies and endowment outfits plus high-net-worth individuals.
Azlan said this Asian fundraising objective was a key factor why – after evaluating Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur – Singapore was chosen as the regional office. “It has a robust legal framework, fund regulations are very advanced and protective of investors.”
The Singapore strategy is also reflective of the evolution within Sidra Capital, with real estate as its largest asset class. “Private finance was newly introduced as an asset class. While it is still small, it is the fastest growing asset class in the company and the driving factors come from Asia.”
The private finance venture began back in 2012 with subsidiary, Inoks Capital, in Geneva. As that operation never grew much, Sidra Capital shifted from 2019 to explore such opportunities in Asia.
“We found this commodity trade financing opportunity in Indonesia in 2019 and we established our first private finance fund called the Sidra Income Fund with US$10 million.”
Fast forward to 2025, Azlan said total assets under management for Indonesian deals have grown to about US$300 million. Such a revenue growth trajectory led to the operational support out of the Jeddah office shifting to a dedicated Singapore foothold in 2022.
There are now five funds being managed by the Singapore outfit – with three domiciled in Saudi Arabia and two Singapore-domiciled variable capital company (VCC) structures.
Azlan said all these funds – except the latest VCC established in April 2025 – are focused on providing financing for commodity trades in Indonesia.
The newest VCC is different in that it operates as an umbrella fund structure – with the first component being the Sidra Asia Pacific Private Investments Sub-Fund I, which was used for this alternative investment manager’s initial foray into Australia.
The umbrella VCC is also expected to be the main vehicle for Sidra Capital’s expansion into the Asia Pacific region, added Azlan.
