24 September 2018  |  Schiphol

DIF consortium selected as preferred bidder for Belgian Liege tram PPP

DIF is pleased to announce that the Tram’Ardent consortium has been announced preferred bidder for the availability based public-private partnership contract, involving the design, financing, construction and maintenance of the first tramway line in Liège, Belgium. The consortium consists of DIF Infrastructure V, together with its partners Colas Projects, Colas Belgium, Colas Rail Belgium and Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF). The authority partner is the Walloon Transport Operator.

With a total length of 11.7 km, 90% of which is in a reserved lane section, Liège’s first tramway line will serve 21 stations, connecting the Sclessin multimodal station, in the southwest of Liège, to the city of Herstal, in the northeast, via the high-speed train station and Saint Lambert Square.

The consortium is responsible for the design, financing, construction and maintenance of the tramway. The consortium will be in charge of the design and build of the electrified rail network, the creation of a maintenance and storage centre, and the development of 240,000 m² of surrounding urban space. CAF will, in particular, supply the rolling stock as part of the consortium. Closing is expected before the end of the year and construction is to be completed by the second half of 2022.

The consortium is advised by Natixis (financial) and DLA piper (legal).

About DIF

DIF is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with €5.6 billion of assets under management across seven closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, North America and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated assets and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.
  • DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I targets equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors with mid-term contracted income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.

DIF has over 100 professionals in eight offices, located in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Sydney and Toronto. Please see www.dif.eu for further information on DIF.

For further information, please contact:

Paul Nash
Partner, Head of PPP/Infrastructure
Email: p.nash@dif.eu

Allard Ruijs
Partner, Head of Investor Relations and Business Development
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

Trams at a station
3 September 2018  |  Toronto

DIF Infrastructure III sells a 53 MW portfolio of Canadian solar plants

DIF Infrastructure III is pleased to announce that it has signed and closed the sale of a 100% stake in a portfolio of four Canadian solar plants (the “Portfolio”) to Ullico Inc.’s infrastructure investment business.

The Portfolio comprises four Canadian solar plants:
•  CSI Glenarm LP;
•  Goldlight LP;
•  Illumination LP; and
•  Stone Mills Solar Park LP.

The Portfolio plants achieved commercial operations between 2012 and 2015. Glenarm, Goldlight and Illumination were acquired at the start of construction, while Stone Mills was acquired two years after the start of operation.

Paul Huebener, Partner and Head of Americas says: “We are pleased with the completion of the sale of the Portfolio that was successfully optimized by acquiring individual projects, bringing them through construction, completing two refinancings in 2015 and 2017, recontracting and the exit via a competitive portfolio sales process.”

Andrew Freeman, Head of Exits says: “This is our first exit in North America. DIF will continue its successful strategy of proactively selling assets from its more mature funds thereby taking advantage of strong demand for high quality infrastructure projects.”

DIF was advised by Raymond James (Finance) and Osler (Legal).

About DIF

DIF is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with €5.6 billion of assets under management across seven closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, North America and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated assets and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.
  • DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I targets equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors with mid-term contracted income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.

DIF has over 100 professionals in eight offices, located in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Sydney and Toronto. Please see www.dif.eu for further information on DIF.

For more information about DIF Americas, please contact:

Paul Huebener
Partner, Head of Americas
Email: p.huebener@difamericas.com

For more information by press and investors, please contact:

Allard Ruijs
Partner, Investor Relations and Business Development
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

For more information about further exits, please contact:

Andrew Freeman
Managing Director, Head of Exits
Email: a.freeman@dif.eu