Infracapital Partners, the infrastructure investment arm of M&G Investments, has acquired full ownership of Meter Fit, the exclusive owner and supplier of gas and electricity meters to UK utility British Gas, the fund announced in a statement.
The £908 million (€1 billion ; $1.4 billion) fund bought the remaining 50 percent of Meter Fit it didn’t already own from United Utilities for £24 million. Infracapital Partners purchased an initial 50 percent of Meter Fit in 2007, the fund said.
“Meter Fit delivers strong, predictable cashflows and full ownership enables us to work even closer with the business to develop the opportunities for growth in this important sector. The company also helps strengthen the diversity of a fund that offers income streams from the utility, transport and renewable energy, as well as offering significant potential for future growth,” Martin Lennon, head of Infracapital Partners, commented in a statement.
The infrastructure fund has been active of late and its name has cropped up in the bidding processes for RWE’s German gas distribution network and Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell’s sale of some of their gas storage units, also in Germany.
Infracapital Partners is also part of the largest consortium bidding for the UK’s high-speed line connecting London to the Channel Tunnel crossing, which also includes Eurotunnel, Goldman Sachs, the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme and CDC Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of French bank Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.