September 2019 - DIF Capital Partners

13 September 2019 | Schiphol

DIF Capital Partners achieves highest ranks in UNPRI’s ESG scoring

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”) is pleased to report that it achieved strong UNPRI scores for 2019, including an A+ for the infrastructure module and an A for the strategy and governance module.

The connection between the infrastructure assets that DIF’s funds invest in and the positive changes they create for current and future communities is one of the key drivers of DIF’s organisation and culture. As such, strong ESG performance is a critical success factor to the long term resilience of our assets and funds.

Today, DIF is publishing its 2019 ESG Report. With the publication of the report, we show that DIF has an action oriented and transparent approach designed to positively engage with all our stakeholders.

DIF welcomes your feedback and is looking forward to continuing this important discussion with its stakeholders as we collectively look to improve ESG performance across the industry.

Please click on the following link to access the full report: DIF Capital Partners – ESG Report 2019.

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners (“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 construction and operational infrastructure assets, that generate stable and predictable cash flows, located in Europe, Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.
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.

DIF has a team of over 130 professionals, based in nine offices located in Schiphol (the Netherlands), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact:
Allard Ruijs, Partner
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

11 September 2019 | Madrid

DIF Capital Partners agrees to sell portfolio of Spanish infrastructure concessions

DIF Infrastructure Fund III (“DIF III”), alongside its co-investors Swiss Life Asset Managers and Industriens Pension, is pleased to announce the signing of an agreement for the sale of its stakes in a portfolio of Spanish availability-based infrastructure concessions to Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners, an open-ended infrastructure fund managed by Brookfield Asset Management.

The portfolio includes significant shareholdings in concessions of the Majadahonda hospital in Madrid; the Line 9 section IV metro stations in Barcelona; and three transport hubs in Madrid: Avenida de America, Plaza de Castilla and Principe Pio.

Andrew Freeman, Head of Exits, said: “This is our first major exit in the Spanish infrastructure concession market, and represents an attractive exit for DIF III and our co-investors. It is part of our strategy of proactively targeting the sale of assets from our mature funds which have been successfully optimized.”

DIF was advised by Santander (M&A), HSF (Legal), Arup (Technical) and KPMG (Tax & Accounting).

Closing of the transaction is subject to receipt of usual consents from project counterparties.

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners (“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 construction and operational infrastructure assets, that generate stable and predictable cash flows, located in Europe, Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.
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.

DIF has a team of over 130 professionals, based in nine offices located in Schiphol (the Netherlands), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact:
Allard Ruijs, Partner
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

9 September 2019 | Santiago

DIF Capital Partners to acquire 50 MW wind farm in Uruguay

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”), through its most recent fund DIF Infrastructure V, is pleased to announce the signing of an agreement with Enercon and eab New Energy from Germany for the 100% acquisition of the 50 MW Cerro Grande wind farm located in eastern Uruguay.

The project, comprising 22 turbines, has been operational since January 2018 and benefits from a 20-year power purchase agreement with UTE, Uruguay’s state-owned utility. The project will continue to be operated and maintained by Enercon and asset management services continue to be provided by SEG Heliotec.

Wim Blaasse, Managing Partner of DIF Capital Partners added: “We are pleased to achieve the milestone of making our first investment in South America, following the recent opening of our South American office in Santiago (Chile). The acquisition is the result of our strong relationship with Enercon. The long-term project agreements provide a high degree of predictability of future cash flows, making this an attractive investment for DIF’s investors.”

DIF has been advised by Voltiq (transaction), Hughes & Hughes and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo (legal), DNV GL (technical), KPMG (tax), Mazars (model audit) and Aon (insurance). Enercon was advised by Ficus Capital.

Closing of the transaction is subject to receipt of usual consents from project counterparties and is expected to take place in the course of 2019.

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners 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 construction and operational infrastructure assets, that generate stable and predictable cash flows, located in Europe, North America, Australasia and South America through two complementary strategies:

DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.
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.

DIF has a team of over 130 professionals, based in nine offices located in Schiphol (the Netherlands), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact:
Allard Ruijs, Partner
Email: a.ruijs@dif.eu

3 September 2019 | Schiphol

Keynote interview with Wim Blaasse, Managing Partner at DIF Capital Partners, in Infrastructure Investor

DIF’s Managing Partner, Wim Blaasse, was interviewed about the lessons from a decade of infrastructure investments by Infrastructure Investor for their 10th anniversary special edition – The Decade.

For the full article please see: Interview with Wim Blaasse in Infrastructure Investor – September 2019