IFM focuses on financing side of business

IFM Investors, the Australian infrastructure fund manager, is further developing its New York infrastructure team with the creation of a new role and the relocation of a seasoned veteran from its Melbourne office.
Alec Montgomery, who until recently served as the firm’s head of infrastructure for North America, has now assumed the newly-created role of global head of capital markets.

“It’s a role that we’ve been discussing with Kyle Mangini, IFM’s global head of infrastructure, for a while,” Montgomery told Infrastructure Investor in a phone interview on Friday.

The role was created in order “to bring a more dedicated focus to the financing and capital markets aspect of our business,” Montgomery explained.

In his new role, Montgomery will be responsible for developing and executing strategies to optimise financial structures across IFM’s infrastructure portfolios, according to the IFM website.

“It’s bringing a layer of focus and oversight to the whole financial structuring side of our business, not only on new investments and transactions, but also in terms of how we work with capital markets, how we work with our advisors and lenders, and structuring the best financing structures and outcomes for our transactions,” Montgomery said, elaborating on what his new role will entail.

“It’s also about working closer with our portfolio companies and their finance functions in developing capital structures and financing strategies to optimise our returns.”

Julio Garcia, an American who joined IFM in 2008 and has been based in the firm’s Melbourne office, will be succeeding Montgomery as the head of infrastructure for North America.

“Julio has exceptional experience on the transaction executions side and was responsible for a handful of transactions that the Melbourne team has completed over the last several years,” Montgomery said. “He brings a lot of strengths to the team here in New York to spearhead that effort.”

The changes went into effect July 1 officially, but “we are in a transition period” Montgomery said, with Garcia relocating to the US in August. Both Montgomery and Garcia will report to Mangini.

In addition to these two moves, IFM has been developing its New York-based team in the past few months, mostly through internal moves and promotions. For example, Adrian Croft joined the New York team from Melbourne earlier this year, Jamie Cemm was promoted and Michael Kulper, previously president of Transurban North America, joined IFM last October.

Asked whether these developments indicate an optimistic view of the US market, Montgomery replied: ““We’re optimistic about the business in general. The US market has its challenges but we are growing the team here in NY to position us for further success and we see good opportunities to deploy additional capital.”