DIF Capital hits €1bn fundraise target for core infrastructure fund

Global fund manager DIF Capital Partners has raised €1.01bn for its latest core infrastructure fund.

The amount raised by DIF Core Infrastructure Fund II (DIF CIF II) slightly exceeded the fund’s €1bn target, the manager said.

The predecessor DIF CIF I fund raised €450m during its final close in November 2017 and invested in 13 companies and platforms in the telecom, energy and transportation sectors.

The manager said the latest fund was backed by existing and new investors to the DIF platform, receiving commitments from institutional investors from EMEA and North America.

DIF CIF II targets equity investments in the small- and mid-sized economic infrastructure market in pre-dominantly telecom, transportation and energy. The fund targets both greenfield and operational investments, with a key focus on Europe and North America, the manager said.

Allard Ruijs, partner at DIF Capital Partners said the CIF strategy is a relatively young strategy for DIF and the success of the fundraising of this second fund, ”especially during unprecedented and challenging Covid-19 times, shows the strength of the DIF platform and the attractiveness of the DIF CIF II proposition”.

”The fact that many of our existing investors, from both DIF CIF I and the Traditional DIF funds, have backed this strategy proves that our investors value the complementarities of the two strategies.

“The fund will be leveraging DIF’s large global office network and dedicated local teams to source and manage attractive investment opportunities and build a resilient and diversified portfolio.”

So far, DIF CIF II has deployed 35% of its capital by committing to five investments. They include investments in Canadian telecom infrastructure platform Valley Fiber, French B2B wholesale fibre operator and developer IELO, French railcar leasing company Touax Rail, UK fibre developer Utility and Irish container leasing platform Bartolomeo.

The manager said the fund has a strong pipeline of investments across its target sectors and geographies.

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