Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G Investments, has held a final close for its Infracapital Greenfield Partners I with total commitments of £1.25 billion ($1.65 billion), exceeding its £1 billion ($1.3 billion) target.
The Greenfield fund’s strategy is to invest in the later stage development, construction and expansion stages of projects and companies across a variety of sectors including communications, energy, renewables, social infrastructure, transport and utilities. This strategy is expected to generate a premium return profile and is well-suited to meet the liability-matching requirements of pension schemes and other institutional investors.
The fundraising generated a high level of demand from institutional capital, with 85 percent of the fund committed by pension funds and insurance companies. The fund also attracted new investors from new geographies with 50 percent of the capital coming from overseas.
As a long-term owner of assets, Infracapital aims to create value through its proven capabilities spanning origination, execution, project delivery and operational enhancement.
Infracapital has already committed 43 percent of the Greenfield fund in five assets:
- Gigaclear, a broadband developer providing high-speed fiber optic broadband networks to the U.K.’s underserved rural communities
- Bioenergy Infrastructure Group (BIG), a U.K. biomass and Energy from Waste aggregation platform with potential generation capacity in excess of 100MW
- C2i, a diversified portfolio comprising five social infrastructure assets in Italy, providing core public services in the health, transport and security sectors
- Infram Energy, a joint venture with Amarenco Solar to invest in greenfield renewable energy assets across France, Ireland and other European markets
- A joint venture with Nokia to invest in a Polish government-sponsored initiative to roll out broadband infrastructure in the country
Infracapital expects to close two other projects imminently, taking the fund to over 50 percent committed by the end of year.
