3i Group plc (“3i”) announces that the 3i European Operational Projects Fund (“3i EOPF” or “the Fund”) has agreed to acquire a portfolio of eight operational projects (the “Portfolio”) in France from DIF Infrastructure III. The Fund has also completed its €70m investment in AGESA, the project company for the Gerediaga-Elorrio motorway PPP in Spain, which was announced on 28 October 2019. Following these transactions, the Fund has deployed c.60% of its total commitments.

Completion of the Portfolio transaction, which is subject to certain conditions including customary antitrust and third party approvals, is expected by the end of Q1 2020.

The Portfolio consists of two batches of three prisons each, three educational projects, one wastewater collection concession, one train station and a batch of 12 fire stations. All projects are fully operational. The projects are availability-based and are backed by strong public counterparties. The wastewater collection concession has a moderate level of demand risk.

Stephane Grandguillaume, Partner at 3i in charge of origination for the Fund, commented: “This is a high quality portfolio with an attractive yield profile consistent with the Fund’s mandate, providing further risk diversification for the Fund.”

3i EOPF, which is managed by 3i’s infrastructure team, is a €456m fund investing in operational projects across Europe, with a focus on France, the Benelux, Germany, Italy and Iberia.  It targets a wide range of sub-sectors, primarily social infrastructure and transportation, but also telecoms and utilities. It aims to provide long-term yield to institutional investors.