Pension-fund investors APG and ATP are providing roughly £700m (€826m) in capital to take over assets owned by the EISER Global Infrastructure Fund.
The Dutch and Danish institutions are backing a new fund set up by 3i Group to manage infrastructure assets that include Belfast City Airport.
3i said it had agreed with EISER to acquire a portfolio that also includes UK gas network operator ESP Utilities Group, Italian waste company Herambiente and stakes in four concession companies in Spain.
The portfolio will include all of the UK assets owned by the fund, which was established in 2006 and is nearing the end of its life.
The €437bn Dutch pensions group APG and the €107bn Danish pension fund ATP are providing approximately £700m to fund the initial transaction and follow-on investments.
ATP told IPE Real Estate it was investing approximately DKK2.5bn (€336m), while 3i is itself co-investing £36m. APG did not disclose the level of its investment.
The EISER Global Infrastructure Fund was originally known as the ABN AMRO Global Infrastructure Fund, and Dutch pension fund ABP, the biggest client of APG, was one of the fund’s first investors.
The fund was renamed in 2010 when EISER Infrastructure Partners bought ABN AMRO Infrastructure Capital Management from Fortis Investments.
Existing investors in the EISER fund have been given the option of participating in the new vehicle, 3i said, or to “realise liquidity”.
Ulrik Dan Weuder, head of global direct investment at ATP, told IPE Real Estate that five assets being acquired from the EISER fund were complementary to the pension fund’s existing investments.
ATP uses a system of four risk factors – interest-rate, equity, inflation and ‘others’ – to decide on the composition of its DKK100bn investment portfolio. Dan Weuder said ATP carried out lengthy due diligence on the assets in line with the model and found that all five assets had the characteristics of core infrastructure, although the precise exposures to different risk factors varied.
“This is the really unique way we can use our risk-factor modelling,” he said.
The investment proposal was also attractive because of the involvement of 3i and APG, Dan Weuder said.
“We believe that, as large investors, we and APG are like-minded, and we have 3i with us, which is in addition a very capable asset manager,” he said.
“It fits into our strategy of being a direct investor with strong partnerships.”
