DIF targets €3.5bn for two new funds – exclusive

DIF Capital Partners is embarking on two new fundraises targeting a combined €3.5 billion, sources have told Infrastructure Investor.

The Dutch fund manager is at the early stages of fundraising for its flagship DIF Infrastructure VI, which is targeting €2.5 billion, as well as seeking €1 billion for its Core Infrastructure Fund II strategy, the sources said.

DIF declined to comment on the fundraising.

DIF Infrastructure VI is set to be the firm’s largest vehicle. It follows the close of DIF Infrastructure V in May 2018, on its revised €1.9 billion hard-cap. The global strategy, which began in 2005, continues to target PPPs, but also looks to invest in regulated assets and renewables. The vehicle is targeting gross returns of about 12 percent.

DIF’s first Core Infrastructure Fund was launched in 2016 with a €350 million target and closed in November 2017 on €450 million. The strategy was formulated to target more underserved areas of the market via partnerships with corporate contractors. It targets energy, utilities, telecoms and transport assets and gross returns of about 15 percent.

Both DIF Infrastructure V and Core Infrastructure Fund I are understood to be about 75 percent committed. Last week, DIF Infrastructure V completed the purchase of Canadian renewable energy developer BluEarth Renewables from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The core infrastructure platform also invested in a portfolio of liquefied natural gas tank ships in France, which are yet to  be built. DIF and its partners hold 50 percent of the portfolio, with the remainder owned by Japanese logistics group Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha.

DIF has been expanding and in June this year it opened its first office in Latin America, establishing a base in Santiago, Chile. This was followed by its first investment in the region in September, with the acquisition of a 50MW wind farm in Uruguay.