Infracapital, the infrastructure investment division of M&G Investments, and the Condotte Group, one of the top three Italian construction companies, announce that they have concluded an agreement for the acquisition by the British company of 80% of a portfolio of infrastructures built through public-private partnerships (PPP) by the Italian group.
The portfolio includes operating and newly built assets with a total value of over 700 million euro, intended to provide essential public services in the transport, safety and above all health sectors, also thanks to the subsidiary Inso, which is particularly active in hospital concessions. The risk/reward profile is attractive, with predictable cash flows over 20 years to the institutional investors involved. Condotte will continue to be involved in the construction and management of these works and will continue to create new investment opportunities for the platform, by participating in tenders for the construction of new works.
The assets include the Vimercate hospital, located north of Milan; the Empoli Hospital, west of Florence; the future Città della Salute, a new hospital that will be built in the Lombard capital, destined to become one of the largest medical and research centers in Europe (construction work will start this year); People Mover in Pisa, a train shuttle service that connects Pisa airport to the city's central station; Careggi, 10 MWe energy trigeneration plant for the Careggi University Hospital in Florence and the New Prison in Bolzano.
Following the signing of the agreement, Andy Matthews, Infracapital's "greenfield" project manager, commented: "This transaction provides Infracapital with a high-quality PPP project platform in Italy, a country that has successfully embraced this model business and offers many opportunities in the social infrastructure space. We look forward to working closely with Condotte, one of the most experienced infrastructure partners, to develop these assets and implement future projects in the Italian PPP market. The agreement is indicative of the significant opportunities for new infrastructure available in Italy and throughout Europe, where we plan to make further investments in the coming years.”
Immediately afterwards, Isabella Bruno Tolomei Frigerio, president and CFO of Ferfina SpA, the financial holding company of the Condotte Group, took the floor and underlined: “In light of the strong demand for PPP projects in Italy and other European regions, we are enthusiastic about working with a leading infrastructure investment firm such as Infracapital to create a high-quality platform of scale. We see huge growth potential for PPPs in the areas of health, transport and housing across Italy and are well positioned to access them via this newly created platform.”
Matteo Astolfi, Country Head of Italy of M&G Investments, added: “Such an important investment, the first in Italy, demonstrates how much value the Italian market has for M&G Investments, not only in the retail sector, where it already boasts a consolidated presence in our country, but also for other group activities.”
