Swedfund, the Swedish government’s SME-focused fund, has invested $10 million in Singapore-based Emerging Markets Investment Advisers’s (EMIA) ASEAN Frontier Markets Fund (AFMF).

The government-owned vehicle aims to drive job creation and development by promoting gender equality, climate resilience and ESG values, and financial inclusion in Cambodia and Laos, according to a statement.

The deal was signed on December 20, 2022.

Swedfund joins leading development finance institutions such as the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and FMO which have already invested in the fund, as per a report in DealStreetAsia.

The $120-million AFMF is the third private equity fund from EMIA, which targets companies in Cambodia and Laos along with other opportunities in the ASEAN market, excluding Myanmar.

The fund achieved a $50-million first close in February, EMIA chief executive officer Joshua Morris told DealStreetAsia.

EMIA most recently deployed capital from the fund in Amru Rice, a Cambodia-based organic rice producer and exporter earlier this month.

“The investment in AFMF is a way for us to reach more small companies that can invest and create jobs that are so important in developing countries. It is a challenging context that means that both countries are characterised by high poverty and a great need for investments to create jobs with decent working conditions,” said Sofia Gedeon, Head of Sustainable Enterprises at Swedfund.

AFMF’s predecessor, Cambodia-Laos Development Fund I, had garnered $64.5 million in 2017 and was fully deployed across 13 investments. The private equity firm received $19.65 million in its inaugural fund.