Fundraising

DIF, EDF Invest to buy Thyssengas

The group will pay about 1.3 times the company's regulated asset base to acquire the 4,200km pipeline network.

-

A consortium formed of Dutch fund manager DIF and France's EDF Invest has agreed to buy Thyssengas, a German gas grid.

The asset, currently held by Macquarie's European Infrastructure Fund 3, was expected to be sold this month , with a possible price tag anticipated at between €500 million and €550 million.

While transaction details have not been disclosed, sources close to the deal told Infrastructure Investor that the asset has been sold for about 1.3 times the company's regulated asset base, which reports have previously placed at about €500 million.

DIF and EDF Invest both hold 50 percent of the asset, according to sources.

Macquarie, DIF and EDF Invest declined to comment.

Macquarie originally invested in Thyssengas in 2011, acquiring the company from German utility RWE for an undisclosed sum. The company ships about 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually via 4,200 kilometres of pipelines. It employs around 290 staff.

The deal comes as following a busy start to the year for DIF, which was awarded two new radiology facilities in Vienna last month and a Canadian hospital project in March. That followed investments in Irish roads, a Spanish hospital and an Australian solar farm – its first deal Down Under – earlier in 2016.