First State Investments, a global asset management firm, has raised a total of €2.61 billion ($2.9 billion) for its European Diversified Infrastructure Fund II, Hillary Ripley, senior director at First State confirmed in an email.
The firm raised an additional €553 million ($615 million) in capital commitments during its third and final round of fundraising, bringing the total commitments to €2.61 billion.
EDIF II is a 15-year, closed-end fund with a sequential nature, alternating between short windows of fundraising and capital deployment. Launched in 2016, the core and core-plus fund invests in mature, income-generating economic infrastructure businesses in Europe, with a focus on mid-market opportunities.
Thirty-nine global institutional investors committed to the fund, the majority of which are European, followed by Asian, Australian and North American institutional investors. The firm exceeded its €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) fundraising target, with most of the capital coming from pension funds.
EDIF II follows the same investment strategy as its predecessor fund, which aimed to build a diversified portfolio of predominantly Europe-based unlisted infrastructure assets. The first EDIF invested on behalf of insurance companies and public pension funds and held a final close in 2015 with approximately €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in raised capital.
EDIF II’s portfolio encompasses assets in France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia. It is currently pursuing a strong pipeline of near-term opportunities consistent with its strategy and existing portfolio, confirmed Ripley. It is currently more than 70 percent deployed.
According to Ripley, the firm expects to reveal whether it will launch a subsequent fund in the coming months.