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PR Hub
Monday, October 5, 2009
LONDON - Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, today announced that it has successfully held a final close on its US$750m Actis Infrastructure 2 fund. This pan-emerging markets fund will focus principally on opportunities in power generation and transport.
Paul Fletcher, Senior Partner at Actis said, “The need to bnuild infrastructure in emerging markets is one of the great investment themes of our time - power, roads, ports, airports and bridges - these are the means through which these countries will continue to grow and prosper.”
Actis’s presence on the ground across Africa, China, India, Latin America and South East Asia gives the fund an unrivalled presence in its target markets. The firm’s local knowledge and relationships are invaluable for sourcing investment opportunities, developing local partnerships, and managing political and regulatory risk.
The infrastructure team comprises 14 people, based in Singapore, Mumbai and London. It is led jointly by Partners Michael Till and Torbjorn Caesar. Each team member averages 10 years of infrastructure and 11 years of emerging markets experience. They have a blend of expertise in infrastructure investing, operations, project finance and project development, having completed investments in over 20 countries in the fund’s target regions.
Infrastructure is a key pillar of Actis’s investment strategy alongside private equity and real estate. This announcement follows on from news that Actis closed its US$2.9bn private equity pan-emerging markets fund, AEM3 in November last year.
Notes to editors
Actis’s previous infrastructure fund launched in 2002 was fully realised in 2007 at US$1.7bn and generated a 23.3% IRR for investors.
Actis’s track record of successful infrastructure investments includes the following:
Bangladesh, Asia
Haripur (360MW) and Meghnaghat (450MW) are combined cycle gas-fired power stations, each located approximately 30km south-east of Dhaka. In 2003, Actis acquired a 76% stake in the operations and oversaw installation of new plants with proven technology and low operational risk. Haripur and Meghnaghat became the most efficient power plants in Bangladesh and, although they only provided around 20% of the country’s dependable capacity, they accounted for nearly one-third of its output.
Peru, South America
Kallpa is a 168MW open-cycle gas turbine plant located in Chilca, south of Lima, designed to burn domestic natural gas from the Camisea field. This investment shows the development of a Greenfield power project from inception, managing the land acquisition and environmental impact assessments, through to negotiation of O&M;, fuel supply and off-take agreements and the commissioning of the plant.
Egypt, North Africa
Sidi Krir is a 683MW natural gas-fired conventional steam-cycle power station located 30km west of Alexandria. Actis was better positioned than the competition to assess sovereign risk in Egypt, enabling it to acquire the plant on favourable terms in two rounds of investment in 2004 and 2005. High standards of health and safety were implemented, leading to improved dependability (2005 and 2006 availability exceeded 95%).
About Actis
Actis is a leading investor in emerging markets, investing exclusively in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Actis has specialist teams dedicated to private equity, infrastructure and real estate and has a track record built on growth capital and leadership in control investing across its markets. Actis has over 100 investment professionals in nine offices worldwide who currently manage funds of US$4.8bn and a portfolio of around 60 investments on behalf of more than 100 institutional investors.
Recent investments include: - Commercial International Bank of Egypt (CIB), a leading Egyptian bank - 7 Days Inn Group, the fastest-growing player in China’s budget hotel industry - Ambow Education Co Ltd, one of the top brands in China’s fast-growing education industry - Alstom SA, an electrical engineering business in South Africa
Actis closed its latest global pan-emerging markets private equity fund, Actis Emerging Markets 3, at US$2.9bn in November 2008.
In 2008, Actis won both the Africa Private Equity Firm of the Year 2008 awarded by Private Equity International Magazine and Best Private Equity Firm 2008 in India, awarded by Venture Intelligence.
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