Australian UniSuper has invested A$1bn (鈧�614m) to buy a 5% stake in the mobile towers business Vantage Towers.
The acquisition 鈥� which marks the A$115bn industry fund鈥檚 first direct infrastructure investment 鈥� was made through a relationship with KKR.
Vantage Towers is a mobile towers business in Europe, with a portfolio of more than 83,000 sites across 10 markets including Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. Vantage Towers鈥檚 anchor tenant and shareholder is Vodafone, Europe鈥檚 largest mobile-network operator.
Last November, KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners, through their core infrastructure strategies, agreed to create a joint venture with Vodafone to hold Vodafone鈥檚 81.7% stake in Vantage Towers. The transaction valued Vantage Towers at 鈧�16.2bn.
Sandra Lee, UniSuper鈥檚 head of private markets, said the investment would complement UniSuper鈥檚 large infrastructure portfolio 鈥� which includes Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Airports, Transurban Chesapeake, and a growing allocation to forestry assets.
鈥淭his is a high-quality defensive infrastructure investment with strong fundamentals and growth prospects,鈥� Lee said. Vantage Towers would add to UniSuper鈥檚 approximately A$15bn private markets portfolio.
鈥淭he expected significant growth in data demand underpins our interest in the digital infrastructure sector. At a time of economic uncertainty, we remain cautiously opportunistic, and this is a great example of that approach,鈥� she said.
To read the latest edition of the latest 91传媒在线 magazine click here.
