Fundraising

Vauban raises €1.8bn, on track to hit €2.5bn hard-cap on CIF III – exclusive

The French manager has already deployed circa €1bn from its latest core fund across transportation, digital and social infra in France, Spain and Portugal.

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Vauban Infrastructure Partners has already raised €1.8 billion for Core Infrastructure Fund III, and is expected to reach its €2 billion target by the end of the month, Infrastructure Investor has learned.

The Paris-based fund manager is expected to reach its €2.5 billion hard-cap, nearly doubling the amount raised for CIF II, which closed on $1.27 billion in 2019 before Vauban spun out of Mirova.

CIF III will replicate the strategy of its predecessor, targeting digital infrastructure, energy transition, social infrastructure and mobility in Europe, a source told Infrastructure Investor. Like CIF II, it will have a 25-year investment horizon.

The fund manager has already deployed around €1 billion from its latest fund across a range of sectors. CIF III’s portfolio currently comprises Vauban Infra Fibre, a €6 billion platform it launched with digital infrastructure developer Axione last July; Niguarda Hospital in Milan; a PPP portfolio of brownfield assets in Spain, which includes four toll roads, a courthouse and a section of the Barcelona Metro; and the Baixo Alentejo toll road in Portugal.

According to the source, the majority of capital raised to date has come from European investors, but Asian LPs have also accounted for a significant portion of commitments.

As well as insurance companies and pension funds, Vauban has also seen interest from funds of funds, family offices and private banks as investors continue to demonstrate a healthy appetite for the asset class, the source said, adding that the firm was seeing a high re-up rate expected to reach 90 percent at final close.

Last week, Infrastructure Investor reported that Vauban, along with AustralianSuper and Swiss Life, had submitted a bid to acquire Ermewa Group, a subsidiary of French railway SNCF that is the second-largest industrial railcar lessor in Europe.

A further three bids have been submitted by Global Infrastructure Partners; Antin Infrastructure Partners; and DWS, alongside Canadian pension CDPQ, Infrastructure Investor understands.

Vauban declined to comment for this story.