APG is expanding its infrastructure team for the Americas and has invested in an electricity transmission system in the US.
The €416bn Dutch investor confirmed it had teamed up with the $191bn (€168bn) California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and Argo Infrastructure Partners to invest in North American infrastructure – as previously reported – and is “busy expanding” a team led by New York-based managing director Steven Hason.
At the same time, Argo, which is managing investments for the consortium, announced the completion of its first deal: the acquisition of the Cross-Sound Cable, which connects the New England and Long Island power grids in the US.
The purchase of the twin, 24-mile submarine cable is expected to be the first of many deals made by the AIA Energy North America platform through which APG and CalSTRS plan to invest $250m each in North American infrastructure.
Hason, whose remit in 2013 was extended beyond North American real estate to include infrastructure, said “a dedicated pool of capital available from like-minded investors” helped the consortium stand out “in the current competitive landscape”.
Hason oversees two separate teams covering real estate and infrastructure, respectively. Spokesman Harmen Geers said the latter was being expanded.
The team was reduced earlier this year when Eugene Zhuchenko, who moved APG’s New York office in 2013 to help set up its Americas team, left to join the Long-Term Infrastructure Investors Association.
Geers said APG intends to replicate the approach used for its real estate investments, using “joint ventures, club deals and co-investments”, and had more capital to invest in infrastructure because its pension fund clients were increasing their allocations.
In 2011, APG, led by Hason, entered into a joint venture with US institutional investor TIAA-CREF to invest in regional shopping centres.
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