Piper Alderman advises majority shareholder on sale of Infrastructure Capital Holdings

Piper Alderman has advised Log Creek Pty Ltd, the majority shareholder of Infrastructure Capital Holdings Pty Ltd (ICH), on the sale of 100% of the shares in ICH to a wholly owned subsidiary of London Stock Exchange listed Foresight Group Holdings Limited.

ICH and its wholly owned subsidiaries (collectively Infrastructure Capital Group) offers investment management and asset management products and services to an established client base of Australian and international institutional investors.  Since inception, Infrastructure Capital Group has deployed capital across 13 realised and 21 unrealised investments. Infrastructure Capital Group offers investors access to portfolios that are diversified by sector, counterparty and risk profile, managing three flagship funds all of which have a proven performance track record.  Infrastructure Capital Group has 44% of its assets under management invested in renewable energy and is one of Australia’s largest private renewable generators, with over 787MW of renewable energy generation capacity and more broadly is seeing a clear sustainability overlay in its core sectors.

Infrastructure Capital Group recently established an integrated asset management business providing a range of services to portfolio companies, highlighting the Group’s holistic and active approach to investment management.  Infrastructure Capital Group’s senior management team is comprised of highly experienced infrastructure specialists with an average of over 20 years’ experience and complementary skillsets across fund management, principal investing and operations management.  The Group has offices in Sydney and Melbourne, with 57 full time equivalent staff of which 28 are part of the asset management business.

The Piper Alderman deal team led by Principal, Hugh Scales and Senior Associate, James Hill, with support from Associate, Andrew Cutler and Lawyer, Olivia De Angelis, advised Log Creek across all stages of the transaction lifecycle, including in relation to preliminary negotiations, drafting and negotiating the transaction documentation and advising on all related matters in respect of the transaction.  The deal team also advised Infrastructure Specialist Asset Management, the trustee of the Infrastructure Capital Group managed funds, on change of ownership ramifications of the transaction on the underlying investee documents.

Mike Fitzpatrick, majority shareholder of ICH, commented:

“I am excited by this transaction because of its obvious benefits to investors in our funds. As part of the combined group, Infrastructure Capital will offer a wider range of products developed from a deeper talent pool, responding to the consolidation in the institutional market. Both firms have a long and deep commitment to renewables, which will continue to be a focus. Interestingly, management of each firm sees the world in much the same way, and integration will not be a challenge. Infrastructure Capital is in a strong position, with over A$3 billion of FUM, and one of the best positioned renewables funds in the Australian market in ARIF, which has wind, solar and hydro assets, and is trialling hydrogen power storage to add value to those assets. I am looking forward to becoming a shareholder in Foresight as part of this transaction.”

Tom Laidlaw, Chief Executive Officer of ICH, commented:

“We are delighted to be joining Foresight Group. The bringing together of two respected and highly regarded infrastructure managers will be beneficial to all our stakeholders. We will continue to manage the business as usual with the added benefit of having access to Foresight’s expertise, global footprint and product offerings.”

Related media coverage

• Foresight Group Holdings buys 100% stake in infrastructure investment firm – Lawyers Weekly, 8 August 2022
• Foresight Group Holdings Limited’s A$140 Million Acquisition of Infrastructure Capital Holdings Pty Ltd – Global Legal Chronicle, 18 July 2022