Dutch fund manager DIF is planning the realisation of its third flagship fund after selling its interest in France’s A63 motorway.
DIF offloaded a 7.2 percent stake in Atlandes, the concessionaire of the 104-kilometre project in southwest France, to fellow shareholder HICL in a deal worth €62 million, selling stakes held by both the €800 million DIF Infrastructure III vehicle and the €1.1 billion DIF Infrastructure IV.
Fund III has now fully exited the investment, while Fund IV retains a 9.22 percent share in the toll road which reached a €1.1 billion financial close in 2011 and was commissioned in 2013. DIF’s €572 million second fund was also invested in the asset before DIF sold the entire portfolio to APG last year, along with 12 investments from DIF III.
The firm is now focusing on the sale of other assets from the 2012-vintage vehicle and Infrastructure Investor understands a sales process is now under way for the 30MW solar portfolio held by the fund in Canada. The portfolio consists of three operational 10MW sites in Ontario which were refinanced in 2015 and benefit from a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The sale of DIF III’s other assets are set to follow, although the option of a bulk sale akin to DIF II’s realisation is thought to remain under consideration. DIF II was said to have received interest from a range of players including from the M&A market, secondaries buyers and institutional investors.
DIF declined to comment beyond its sale of the A63 stake but Andrew Freeman, head of exits at the fund manager, noted the “strong demand for high-quality core infrastructure projects in mature markets”.
Other assets held by DIF III include toll roads in Ireland and the Netherlands, a Spanish hospital and a German rolling stock project. It has €5.6 billion in assets under management spread across seven closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles.
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