Australian asset manager AMP Capital has raised US$2.4 billion for its global infrastructure platform, which closed on December 29 last year with more than 50 institutional investors committing to its global mandate.
AMP Capital states that the platform, which includes the AMP Capital Global Infrastructure Fund and the re-launched Strategic Infrastructure Trust of Europe (SITE), has attracted strong global interest, particularly from investors in the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, Belgium, the Middle East, Ireland, Australia, Spain and Finland.
The company created the global infrastructure platform in October 2014 by converting SITE from being an open-ended to a close-ended European fund, which successfully attracted significant commitments from institutional investors.
The existing assets in SITE include Newcastle Airport, Angel Trains, Alpha Trains and Thames Water.
Over the past 12 months, the platform has added four new assets to its portfolio including:
- Esvagt: an emergency rescue and response service for the European and UK offshore oil and gas and wind industries.
- Adven Group Oy: a provider of sustainable and business critical energy infrastructure and services in Finland, Sweden and Estonia.
- Millennium Garages: the largest underground downtown parking system in the US.
- Axion: a leading provider of broadcasting and telecommunications infrastructure in Spain.
Boe Pahari, global head of infrastructure at AMP Capital, comments: “Our focus on assets in the middle market has seen us secure a compelling range of investment already, and with our sector, geography and asset management expertise, along with an encouraging global deal pipeline for infrastructure, we’re looking forward to securing more key assets and strong returns for our investors.”
He tells Asia Asset Management that: “There is significant interest from institutional investors in infrastructure investing around the world because of the yields that are available in a low-interest-rate environment and the need for good cash flow, and long-term annuities to be able to match their pension liabilities. Interest from the likes of pension funds and corporate super providers is high. From Canada and Australia we’re seeing allocations to infrastructure beyond 10%. In Europe and the US allocations are growing higher from low single digits. In Asia a number of the large pension funds have already started and continue to grow their allocation to infrastructure, with some even putting together their own investment teams to be able to invest directly or to access co-investment opportunities.”
The listed infrastructure universe has grown significantly over the last two years. According to figures from First State Investments, the total AUM of the niche market had surged from $1.1 trillion in 2014 to almost $3 trillion by the end of 2016.
The growing institutional investor interest in infrastructure assets can be further illustrated by the increasing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) that have begun investing in infrastructure – 57% of SWFs were investing in infrastructure in 2014 compared to 62% in 2016, according to data provider Preqin.
