DigitalBridge halfway there
DigitalBridge is halfway to its $8 billion target for its flagship DigitalBridge Partners III fund, the group revealed in its Q2 earnings last week.
The vehicle added about $800 million to the coffers in Q2 to reach $4 billion, with 75 percent of commitments being re-ups from existing LPs, chief executive Marc Ganzi told analysts, adding it’s “a ratio that’s exactly in line with our initial strategic plan”.
While DigitalBridge raised $7.1 billion in H1 from banks for portfolio companies, Ganzi would like a helping hand. “It’d be great if we’d have a couple of rate cuts. That certainly does help our ability to buy things and it certainly helps our ability to finance new construction as well,” he said.
And with DBP III progressing, Ganzi also gave a teaser as to what LPs can expect in the offing.
“Next year, give you the spoiler alert, we’re going to have more products in the market focused on AI infrastructure, focused on power and focused on the things that really matter for what we’re doing to power the digital economy,” he said.
Stay tuned, then.
Core returns for Brookfield
Also in the earnings mix last week was Brookfield Asset Management, which became a $1 trillion asset manager during Q2 2024.
But it was a small part of the pie that was of note to infrastructure investors, with the revelation that the firm had raised about $500 million for the open-end Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners, the largest amount it has raised in a single quarter for the lower-returning vehicle since 2022, with the fund now at a size of $10 billion. Perhaps those rate cuts in the offing really are buoying investors.
Elsewhere, about $400 million was added to the coffers of the Brookfield Global Transition Fund II, which reached a $10 billion first close in February and is targeting $17 billion. Brookfield’s accounts also disclosed about $3.3 billion of co-investment commitments to its renewable power and transition business, which The Pipeline understands to be part of BGTF II, although Brookfield declined to comment on this.
That should be put to work soon, with Brookfield president and head of the transition business Connor Teskey telling analysts “our pipeline is perhaps the largest it’s ever been”.
And that’s after the €6.1 billion Neoen agreement.
F2i hits €500m target for inaugural debt fund
Two years after reaching a first close on €310 million, the Italian fund manager has reached a final close on its first infrastructure debt fund. It has exceeded its €500 million target, F2i said in a statement, but did not disclose an exact figure.
F2i is already “working on the launch of a second infrastructure debt fund”, according to the statement, since IDF1 is more than 90 percent deployed across 14 investments. These include a loan to DigitalBridge and Brookfield Asset Management for the acquisition of a controlling interest in GD Towers; financing for the acquisition of Paris-based data centre platform Data4 by Brookfield; and participating in a green loan provided to UK-based Beacon Rail for its acquisition of Mitsui Rail Capital Europe. Figures for these transactions have not been disclosed.
IDF2, like its predecessor, will also be an Article 8 fund and will follow the same strategy – investing in senior and junior debt through loans and bonds across the infrastructure sector in Italy and Europe, including Germany, Austria, France, the UK and the Iberian peninsula, a spokesperson told The Pipeline.
The second fund will also have a higher target, the spokesperson said, but did not provide details.
Grapevine
“The size of Canadian pension schemes means they can invest far more in productive assets like vital infrastructure than ours do. I want British schemes to learn lessons from the Canadian model and fire up the UK economy”
Deals
DWS and OMERS buy Antin’s €1.3bn Italian ‘commercial infra’ asset
OMERS Infrastructure has stretched the definition of infra to make its first foray into the Italian market.
The Canadian pension giant has signed a deal, alongside DWS, to acquire 100 percent of Grandi Stazioni Retail (GSR) from an Antin Infrastructure Partners-led consortium, a deal valued between €1.2 billion and €1.3 billion, sources told .
GSR comprises commercial and advertising spaces in 14 major railway stations and hubs for high-speed rail, including 800 commercial units and 1,800 media assets.
OMERS and DWS are acquiring 50 percent each, with the latter making the investment via its PEIF IV fund, it is understood.
Antin raised the eyebrows of a few infra purists back in 2016 when it led a consortium including ICAMAP, a Luxembourg-based private equity real estate firm, and retail and luxury investment company Borletti Group, to acquire GSR for €953 million. The sellers were Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Italy’s state-owned railway group, and private investment vehicle Eurostazioni.
Then again, lest we forget – Antin’s 2013 UK crematoria acquisition certainly pushed the boat out too.
Macquarie climbs the Rakuten tower
Macquarie Asset Management has agreed a sale-and-leaseback deal for a portion of the mobile network assets owned by Japan’s Rakuten Mobile, a subsidiary of listed conglomerate Rakuten Group.
MAM will make its investment via Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 3, a vehicle that closed on more than $4.2 billion in May 2022. The fund will lead a consortium that also includes British Columbia Investment Management.
Rakuten Group announced the deal in a statement to shareholders last week, saying that the final value of the transaction is yet to be determined but would come in between ¥150-300 billion (approximately $1-2 billion) for a 10-year lease. The firm said it would continue to manage and operate the mobile network assets, with the proceeds used to fund working capital and capital expenditure for Rakuten Mobile.
Verena Lim, co-head of Asia-Pacific MAM Infrastructure and CEO of Macquarie Group in Asia, said in a statement: “We believe Japan’s commitment to revitalise its digital economy and accelerate the pace of digital transformation presents significant opportunities to investors in the digital infrastructure sector.”
Watch this space for more from Macquarie in Japan.