The EUR2.75bn (USD3.5bn) final close of its fourth European infrastructure fund has taken Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets’ (MIRA) global fund raising to a total of USD9.3bn in the past two years, including new infrastructure funds in Korea, the Philippines and China, and a Mexican real estate investment trust.
Its listed funds have experienced further market capital growth of USD2.8bn over the same period.
Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 4 (MEIF4) has closed fundraising with EUR2.75bn (USD3.5bn) in investor commitments – well above its initial EUR1.5bn to EUR2bn target. In addition, co-investment arrangements of at least a further EUR2bn have been agreed with its investors. It has already committed approximately EUR500m to two core, regulated infrastructure assets. In July 2012, it led the consortium which acquired Open Grid Europe, Germany’s largest gas network, from EOn. The consortium included a number of MEIF 4 investors. In December 2012, it acquired a stake in a Czech gas network from RWE.
“Institutional investors increasingly understand the positive role infrastructure can play in their portfolios. As a result, it is a strongly growing asset class,” says Martin Stanley, global head of MIRA. “Experienced fund managers will have an important role to play in responsibly investing this growing pool of capital in much-needed infrastructure across the globe.
“As the asset class matures, investors are also increasingly rigorous in their manager selection process, focusing on access to investment opportunities, investment strategy and team, ability to add operational value and proven track record. For this reason, we are particularly pleased with the support that MEIF4 and our other regionally focused funds have received from investors around the world.”
MIRA manages its infrastructure investments through a range of listed and unlisted funds and managed accounts, largely dedicated to specific regions or countries. This regional approach gives investors global infrastructure exposure tailored to their needs, recognising varying risk/return profiles of different asset types, stages of maturity and jurisdiction. It also allows for dedicated, expert management located where the businesses are.
Over the last two years MIRA has raised USD9.3bn in new equity, invested USD6.1bn of equity in 32 assets and realised nine infrastructure assets in maturing funds.
MEIF4 is a successor fund to MEIF1, 2 and 3 which have been investing in European infrastructure since 2003 and have together committed more than EUR7.3bn of equity to over 20 infrastructure businesses.
