First State Investments is planning to raise €3.5bn for its third European infrastructure fund.
The manager said the newly launched European Diversified Infrastructure Fund (EDIF III) will aim to raise its target fundraising size over three to five fundraising series.
EDIF III, which will pursue the same investment strategy as the two existing EDIF funds, will put together a portfolio of mature infrastructure assets targeting investments primarily in the energy, transportation and utility sectors in Europe.
In July 2019, the manager said EDIF II had reached its hard cap of €2.6bn in commitments from global institutional investors, with approximately 70% of capital deployed. This followed the close of EDIF I in 2015 at €2bn.
Niall Mills, partner, infrastructure investments at First State Investments, said: “Our environmental, social and governance-led strategy builds on our experience and belief that sustainability is inseparable from infrastructure investment.
“ESG principles are at the core of what we do and embedded at every stage of the investment cycle, to ensure we are managing assets in the most responsible and sustainable way, on behalf of our investors.”
Marcus Ayre, partner, infrastructure investments at First State Investments, said: “We continue to see strong demand from institutional investors for investment opportunities offering long-term predictable and stable income.
“We’ve been delighted by the strong support we’ve received from investors in our existing funds and are excited by the opportunity to continue to grow our portfolio and investor base.”
