3i Group has acquired a portfolio of eight operational public-private partnerships in France from DIF Capital Partners.
The portfolio, which includes six prisons, three educational projects, a wastewater collection concession, a train station and 12 fire stations, has been bought for the 3i European Operational Projects Fund, which raised €456m in 2018.
DIF said all the assets had been acquired as greenfield projects for its DIF Infrastructure III fund, “and have been successfully managed into stable operational projects during DIF’s ownership”.
Andrew Freeman, head of exits at DIF, said: “We are pleased with the sale of the portfolio that was successfully optimised throughout the life of the assets and exited via a competitive portfolio sales process.
“The sale represents a further underpinning of DIF’s long standing track record in the French infrastructure market and is an attractive exit for DIF III.”
All projects are fully operational and are availability-based, backed by public counterparties, although 3i said the wastewater collection concession had “a moderate level of demand risk”.
Stephane Grandguillaume, 3i partner in charge of origination for the fund, said: “This is a high quality portfolio with an attractive yield profile consistent with the fund’s mandate, providing further risk diversification.”
The fund is focusing on France, Benelux, Germany, Italy and Iberia, and is primarily targeting social infrastructure and transportation, but will also consider telecoms and utilities.
