Allianz Capital Partners, HICL and DIF Infrastructure IV joint venture has acquired British water utility Affinity Water for £687 million ($886 million).
The consortium will acquire a 90 percent stake from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure and M&G Investments' Infracapital and the remaining 10 percent stake from water company Veolia. Allianz will own a 36.6 percent stake, while DIF will own a 26.9 percent stake, and HICL, managed by InfraRed Capital Partners, will own 36.6 percent.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of May.
Affinity Water owns and manages the water assets and network in the southeast of England, supplying around 900 million liters of water a day on average across parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey and some London boroughs, as well as Folkestone and Dover. The firm supplies 1.5 million homes and businesses as well.
The deal signals the latest interest among overseas investors for U.K. infrastructure, coming after a minority stake in Thames Water was sold to a consortium of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors in March.