EISER Infrastructure Partners has
announced the acquisition of the
general partner of the EISER Global Infrastructure Fund (formerly ABN AMRO
Global Infrastructure Fund) from Fortis Investments. EISER's team is set to
transfer to the new entity. EISER Infrastructure Partners is owned by Hans
Meissner, Hafeez Ahmed, Jaime Hector and Vivian Nicoli.
EISER Infrastructure Limited, which is wholly owned by EISER
Infrastructure Partnership, was originally developed by ABN AMRO in 2005 as
a
third-party Global Infrastructure Fund before being acquired by Fortis
Investments during the Consortium take-over of ABN AMRO in 2008. It will
continue to manage the EISER Global Infrastructure Fund on behalf of its 19
institutional investors. EISER currently manages eight investments - seven
in
Europe and one in Australia - with a combined enterprise value of over EUR 3
billion. BNP Paribas will remain one of the Fund's investors and a member of
the Fund's advisory board.
EISER stated that it is in the process of launching a follow-on fund,
"Fund II", which will target a similar size and be managed according to a
similar strategy as its existing Fund. Fund II will target EUR 1 billion in
equity capital commitments from third-party investors and will aim to invest
the majority of this capital in European infrastructure assets. The
Partnership stated that it was encouraged by the strong support for its
investment platform from its existing investor base, as well as from other
interested investors.
BNP Paribas stated that although it was no longer a parent sponsor of
Fund II, it would look to invest in Fund II, with a commitment of EUR 100
million. Fortis Investments stated that it wishes to ensure a smooth
transition to the Partnership ownership structure by allowing EISER to use,
wherever necessary, services such as IT for a 12-month transition period.
