News & Analysis

AMP Capital infra debt fund closes on $1.1bn

More than 50 investors helped the Australian fund manager beat its $1bn target for Infrastructure Debt Fund II.

-

AMP Capital has held a final close on its Infrastructure Debt Fund II (IDF II), its second global infrastructure debt vehicle, raising $1.1 billion from more than 50 investors in eight countries, the Sydney-based investment manager said in a statement on Wednesday (5 November).

The firm has already called more than $400 million in capital and has secured five investments, the most recent being subordinated loans to Canadian renewable energy company Alterra Power and an investment in US power generation facility Astoria Project Partners, as reported by PDI's sister title Infrastructure Investor. 

“This is a fantastic result for IDF II and one that reflects the strength of AMP Capital’s infrastructure debt team, which has successfully managed capital in this strategy since the 1990s,” the fund manager’s global head of infrastructure debt Andrew Jones said, noting that both existing investors as well as a significant number of new investors committed to IDF II.

Jones noted that interest in the asset class remains strong and referred to markets where AMP sees opportunities. “A strong pipeline of energy-related opportunities in the North American market at the moment is complemented by increasing M&A activity in Europe with the sale of a number of regulated utilities across the region currently underway. We are also seeing some interesting resource-related opportunities in the Australian market,” he said.

AMP will focus on deploying the remainder of the capital raised for IDF II, which is double the size of its predecessor which in 2012 closed on $500 million.

Established originally in 1849 as the Australian Mutual Provident Society, a life insurance company, AMP today invests in real estate and infrastructure and has specialist expertise in fixed-income, equities and multi-asset solutions. As of September 30, 2014, it had over $127 billion in assets under management.

AMP has been investing in infrastructure debt since 1998. Today it has a team of 10 infrastructure debt professionals located in London, New York and Sydney.