Amber Infrastructure has entered the New Zealand market for the first time, acquiring five assets from Morrison & Co on behalf of International Public Partnerships (INPP).
INPP will take full ownership of a portfolio of schools and a student accommodation property for approximately NZ$200m (€121m).
Amber’s head of Asia-Pacific, Vaughan Wallace, said: “We have capitalised on our ability to move quickly when opportunities arise to secure a rare investment with a proven track record.
“This portfolio acquisition expands our footprint into the New Zealand market, providing a material presence in the education sector with 11 schools and a purpose-built student accommodation facility at Auckland University of Technology.”
Wallace described the assets as “high-quality infrastructure investments” which were already operational and delivering long-term stable cash flows linked to inflation.
“Our acquisition affords us the opportunity to employ the existing, well-respected New Zealand PPP project delivery team, who have been actively managing these assets,” he said.
The five infrastructure assets join Amber’s growing Australian investment portfolio, which now is worth more than A$9bn (€5.76bn) across the public, healthcare, transport, energy and digital sectors.
Morrison & Co executive director Steven Proctor said the sale had generated “an excellent return” for investors over more than a decade.
“We actively managed each of these assets to become fully operational, delivering a range of improvements for their stakeholders and the local communities they serve,” he said.
The firm said it would return capital to investors and deliver a smooth ownership transition to stakeholders and new lower-cost capital providers.
“During our investment, we have enabled the businesses to unlock their potential by supporting major construction work activities,” Proctor said.
