Access Capital Partners announces the first closing of its second European Infrastructure co-investment Fund
European Private Assets specialist Access Capital Partners (“Access”) is pleased to announce the first closing of ACIF Infrastructure II (the “Fund”), securing €143 million of commitments from new and existing investors, out of a €400 million target size.
ACIF Infrastructure II is a direct investment fund targeting European, operational and cash yielding infrastructure assets, investing alongside best-in-class fund managers, institutional investors, and industrial groups.
This first closing will allow the Fund to capitalise on Access’ infrastructure team’s attractive pipeline of opportunities and on a dynamic investment momentum, as drivers for growth of private investments in infrastructure remain strong. In 2020, the team signed 10 co-investments for over €300 million and, to date, ACIF Infrastructure II has already completed two co-investments in the telecommunications sector, one in France and Benelux and one in Spain.
The predecessor fund, ACIF Infrastructure I, which held a final closing in July 2018, is 95% deployed with the remaining capital reserved for potential add-on investments. ACIF Infrastructure I’s portfolio has continued to perform well and to make yield distributions throughout the COVID-19 crisis, thanks to resilient valuations for stable and essential infrastructure assets with limited GDP or traffic exposure.
Access’ Managing Partners, Agnès Nahum and Philippe Poggioli, commented: “This first closing reflects the confidence of our investors in Access’ strategy and the solid performance of the predecessor fund, and is a testament of the infrastructure asset class’ resilience and attractiveness during uncertain economic times.”
Access now manages €2.7 billion of infrastructure assets, through co-mingled funds and segregated mandates. The dedicated infrastructure team is led by four Partners: Aymeric Paul (Head of Infrastructure), Manish Pandey (CoHead of Infrastructure), Tomas Wegelius and David Negret. With the hiring of three new team members in 2020, the infrastructure investment team now comprises ten professionals.
As with its first-generation fund and in line with its commitment to the UNPRI, Access will integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria throughout the investment cycle, and will seek to measure the contribution of each portfolio asset to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).