Fundraising

EQT’s fourth infra fund is 10% invested at €9bn final close

Swedish firm’s latest vehicle has to date invested in a French wastewater management and treatment company and a US utility and telecoms maintenance business.

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EQT Partners has held the final close on its fourth infrastructure fund after collecting €9 billion in commitments during six months of fundraising.

The Swedish firm announced on 12 March that its EQT Infrastructure IV had exceeded its €7.5 billion fundraising target after launching last September. EQT has already invested 10 percent of the fund into Saur, a French wastewater management and treatment company, and Osmose Utilities Services, which provides maintenance and restoration services to utility and telecommunications businesses in the US.

A source familiar with the matter told Infrastructure Investor that investments would range between €100 million and €600 million and focus on the energy, transportation and logistics, environmental and social infrastructure sectors. The source added that EQT would take control or co-control positions in assets, and that it would look for deals primarily in Europe and North America but would also consider opportunities in Asia-Pacific.

The firm’s fourth vehicle has received commitments from a span of institutional investors, including pension and sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies in North America, Europe and Asia. LPs include the Alaska Permanent Fund, which committed $175 million, and Vietnam-based Fubon Life Insurance, which committed €225 million.

Last month, the firm announced it had made its final deal from its previous infrastructure fund: an undisclosed investment in Kodiak Gas Services, a midstream energy company based in Houston, Texas.

EQT Infrastructure III closed in February 2017 on €4 billion and has made six other investments, including four in the European and US telecom sectors. According to the source cited above, EQT’s suite of infrastructure funds has delivered realised gross returns of 34 percent. Since launching its infrastructure programme in 2008, EQT has made 27 investments in Europe and North America.

Its first fund, a 2008-vintage €1.2 billion vehicle, has been fully exited. EQT Infrastructure II, which closed on €1.9 billion in 2013, has exited four of its 11 investments.

EQT declined to comment for this story.