Partners Group: USD 8.5 billion for third direct infrastructure program

Baar-Zug, Switz­er­land — Part­ners Group, a leading global mana­ger of private market assets, has recei­ved a total of USD 8.5 billion from its clients for its third direct infra­struc­ture program. The program is based on Part­ners Group’s third direct infra­struc­ture fund, which recei­ved $6.4 billion in new capi­tal commit­ments. In addi­tion, commit­ments of $2.1 billion were made from other private market programs and custo­mi­zed client solu­ti­ons that will invest in paral­lel with the program.

Juri Jenk­ner, Part­ner, Head Private Infra­struc­ture, says: “We are grateful for the contin­ued trust our clients have placed in our trans­for­ma­tive invest­ment stra­tegy. We believe our thema­tic invest­ment approach and plat­form expan­sion capa­bi­li­ties uniquely posi­tion us to build a port­fo­lio of next-gene­ra­­tion infra­struc­ture projects for our clients.”

The comple­tion of the fund­rai­sing follows an intense period of invest­ment acti­vity for Part­ners Group. In 2021, a total of $5.4 billion was inves­ted in infra­struc­ture assets and compa­nies that reflect Part­ners Group’s thema­tic invest­ment philo­so­phy. These include: EOLO, Italy’s leading fixed wire­less broad­band access provi­der; GREN, one of the largest district heating plat­forms in the Baltic States; Unity Digi­tal, a wire­less tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons infra­struc­ture plat­form in the Phil­ip­pi­nes; Dimen­sion Rene­wa­ble Energy, a distri­bu­ted energy plat­form focu­sed on commu­nity solar and battery storage in the U.S.; Resi­li­ent, a distri­bu­ted water infra­struc­ture plat­form in the U.S. and Canada; and North Star, a Euro­pean opera­tor of specia­li­zed vessels for offshore wind maintenance.

The rema­in­der of the program will invest on behalf of inves­tors globally and will focus on infra­struc­ture in stra­te­gic thema­tic areas rela­ted to the over­ar­ching Giga themes of Digi­ta­liza­tion & Auto­ma­tion, New Living and Decar­bo­niza­tion & Sustaina­bi­lity. In doing so, Part­ners Group pursues a plat­form expan­sion stra­tegy that targets compa­nies or assets in infra­struc­ture sub-sectors that are show­ing above-average growth due to trans­for­ma­tive trends.

Part of the program is inves­ted in next-gene­ra­­tion infra­struc­ture that contri­bu­tes to impro­ved sustaina­bi­lity and supports the UN Sustainable Deve­lo­p­ment Goals. Ther­e­fore, clean energy, water treat­ment and reuse, and data centers powered by rene­wa­ble energy are among Part­ners Group’s thema­tic focus areas. Once inves­ted, the ESG & Sustaina­bi­lity team works hand-in-hand with the invest­ment teams to deve­lop ESG-focu­­sed value crea­tion initia­ti­ves for each invest­ment project.

Esther Peiner, Mana­ging Direc­tor, Private Infra­struc­ture Europe, comm­ents: “We strive to gene­rate sustainable returns for our inves­tors while crea­ting a posi­tive impact for our wider stake­hol­ders. Our approach consists of thema­tic invest­ments combi­ned with prac­ti­cal, plat­­form-based value crea­tion stra­te­gies. They aim to deve­lop next-gene­ra­­tion infra­struc­ture and gene­rate returns that are protec­ted from econo­mic insta­bi­lity. Given the uncer­tainty caused by the pande­mic and the infla­tion concerns that still exist, this approach is more rele­vant than ever.”

Inves­tors in Part­ners Group’s third direct infra­struc­ture program include both new and exis­ting clients, inclu­ding public and corpo­rate pension funds, sove­reign wealth funds, insu­rance compa­nies, endow­ment funds and foun­da­ti­ons. Appro­xi­m­ately one-third of the capi­tal commit­ments came from outside Part­ners Group’s Euro­pean home market, reflec­ting growing inves­tor demand for globally diver­si­fied and thema­ti­cally focu­sed infra­struc­ture port­fo­lios. Part­ners Group’s foun­ders, part­ners and other employees have also inves­ted signi­fi­cantly in the program.

Vitto­rio Laca­gnina, Mana­ging Direc­tor, Client Solu­ti­ons, concludes, “The successful comple­tion of the fund­rai­sing reflects the solid perfor­mance of our trans­for­ma­tive invest­ment stra­tegy and resi­li­ence of the port­fo­lio, which we have demons­tra­ted in the face of a protra­c­ted pande­mic and rising infla­tion. The program bene­fits from a sizable seed port­fo­lio charac­te­ri­zed by strong invest­ment acti­vity, poten­ti­ally miti­ga­ting the J‑curve. The program was laun­ched in a market envi­ron­ment where acce­le­ra­ting beha­vi­oral and struc­tu­ral chan­ges are crea­ting compel­ling oppor­tu­ni­ties for insti­tu­tio­nal investors.”

Part­ners Group’s previous flag­ship direct infra­struc­ture fund curr­ently has a net IRR of 15.5% and a net TVPI of 1.51x (fund closed in 2018; perfor­mance as of Septem­ber 30, 2021. Past perfor­mance is not indi­ca­tive of future results. There can be no assu­rance that simi­lar results will be achie­ved in the future. Values are for illus­tra­tive purpo­ses only).