Under the agreement, the five assets from Morrison & Co’s Public Infrastructure Partners portfolio will be owned by International Public Partnerships Limited (INPP), a London-listed investment company advised by Amber.
“This portfolio acquisition expands our footprint into the New Zealand market, providing a material presence in the education sector with 11 schools spanning the breadth of the country, as well as a purpose-built student accommodation facility at Auckland University of Technology," said Vaughan Wallace, head of Asia-Pacific at Amber.
“Our acquisition affords us the opportunity to employ the existing, well-respected New Zealand PPP project delivery team, who have been actively managing these assets. This aligns with our hands-on approach to managing essential infrastructure assets that add value to people and communities at a local level."
The five New Zealand-based infrastructure assets are comprised of: The Hobsonville Point Primary and Secondary Schools (NZ Schools I Public Private Partnership) together with NZ Schools II Public Private Partnership and NZ Schools III Public Private Partnership; Auckland prison; and student accommodation at the Auckland University of Technology.
The five infrastructure assets join Amber’s growing Australian investment portfolio which now totals assets worth more than $9 billion across the public, healthcare, transport, energy and digital sectors.
“We are pleased to have achieved an excellent return for our investors over more than a decade. We actively managed each of these assets to become fully operational, delivering a range of improvements for their stakeholders and the local communities they serve," added Steven Proctor, executive director at Morrison & Co.
"We are now able to return capital to our investors and deliver a smooth ownership transition to stakeholders and new lower cost capital providers. We are working hard to deliver similar excellent outcomes for our remaining local assets.”
The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, from New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office and counterparty consents.
