Deals

EQT debut fund close to realisation after €440m sale

Tampnet, bought by 3i Infrastructure and ATP, was also partly owned by EQT’s second fund, which has now sold four of its 11 assets.

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EQT Infrastructure has just one remaining asset in its 2008-vintage debut fund after it sold offshore telecoms network operator Tampnet to 3i Infrastructure and Danish pension ATP.

The pair are understood to have paid about €220 million each for close to a 50 percent share in the company, with the management team buying a minority stake.

Tampnet has been jointly owned since 2012 by the €1.2 billion EQT Infrastructure I fund and its €1.9 billion successor, after the two vehicles acquired the company from Norwegian private equity fund HitecVision in a deal valued at NKr1.5 billion ($183.9 million; €157.4 million).

The sale means EQT Infrastructure I only has US firm Peregrine Midstream Partners to divest until it has realised all its nine assets. Peregrine filed for bankruptcy in early 2016 and EQT has since been working on a restructuring and preparation for exit.

EQT Infrastructure II has now divested four of its assets after announcing the sale of IslaLink to Fiera Infrastructure in April. The 2013-vintage vehicle was generating a 20.27 percent net IRR as at the end of last June, according to US public pension documents. EQT is now reportedly planning to raise €8 billion for its fourth vintage, according to the FT.

While Tampnet’s network was solely based in the North Sea at the time of EQT’s acquisition, the company has since grown to have 15 percent of its business in the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of the business is providing fibre links to oil platforms and represents 3i Infrastructure’s first investment in the sector.

Tampnet is the London-listed fund’s third investment this year, after Attero and Alkane Energy and following its divestments of stakes in Elenia and Anglian Water last year.