Macquarie’s sixth European infra fund set for €6bn close by month end – exclusive

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets is expecting to close its sixth European fund by the end of the month, Infrastructure Investor understands.

The Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 is poised to meet its €6 billion hard-cap, having launched last year with a €5 billion target. It was believed to have collected around €3 billion towards the end of last year.

The Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois agreed a $200 million commitment to the fund two weeks ago. It joined other investors in MEIF6, such as China Life Insurance (€30 million), Fubon Life Insurance (€200 million) and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (€80 million). The investment committee of McGill University in Canada deployed €5 million into a co-investment pool alongside its €15 million commitment to the fund.

MEIF6 is believed to have secured its first investment last week by agreeing to buy Magma Sweden from Canadian IPP Innergex Renewable Energy for $304.8 million. Magma Sweden owns 53.9 percent of HS Orka. The latter company owns two geothermal facilities in Iceland with a total generation capacity of 174MW, a 10MW hydropower project that is under construction in the country, and other Icelandic renewables projects that are in the pipeline.

Macquarie declined to comment on both the fundraising and the deal.

MEIF6 is expected to continue the strategy of its €4 billion predecessor, which closed in September 2016. Investments from Macquarie’s fifth European infrastructure fund include the Green Investment Group, Spanish car parking group Empark and Danish telecoms company TDC.

Macquarie last month sold its 36 percent stake – held by both MEIF2 and MEIF 3 – in Brussels Airport to APG, QIC and Swiss Life. It also sold its interest in Polish port group DCT Gdansk to a consortium including IFM Investors.