Asia, emerging markets art fund seeks $100 million

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Meridian Art Partners, a New York-based investor, plans to raise $100 million by the end of the year for a fund investing in contemporary art from Asia and other emerging markets, The Straits Times reported on Wednesday.

The Singapore daily quoted one of Meridian's partners, Roman Scott, as saying that it was looking to raise half of the targeted funds from rich Asian investors and would store a large part of its Asian art collection in Singapore.

The minimum investment would be $250,000, it said.

Up to half of the money will be invested into Asian art with the remainder used to buy works from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Russia.

Andrew Littlejohn, a co-founder of Meridian Art Partners, was quoted as saying that investors would get their capital and potential investment gains after five to seven years and that he expects an internal rate of return of 30 percent a year.

(Reporting by Jan Dahinten, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)