SL Capital makes deal from new infra secondaries fund

SL Capital Partners, the private equity firm owned by Standard Life Group, has bought a stake in a Macquarie-managed European infrastructure fund, according to a UK regulatory filing.

The Edinburgh-based firm bought the entire interest in Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund II (MEIF II) through its SL Capital Infrastructure Secondary I fund from Norwegian financial group Storebrand Livsforsikring. This is the second deal the firm has done out of its new secondaries infrastructure fund, SL Capital confirmed to Secondaries Investor.

SL Capital Infrastructure Secondary I closed earlier this year and is the firm’s first fund focusing on infrastructure secondaries. SL Capital Infrastructure Secondary I was registered in October last year, according to another UK regulatory filing.

MEIF II is a €4.6 billion fully invested fund from 2006 that focuses on energy, transport and water infrastructure projects in central, eastern and western Europe. The fund’s investments include Thames Water, UK shipping service Condor Group and the French motorway network Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone, according to Macquarie’s website.

The transaction was completed on 6 July, according to the filing.

Sydney-based Macquarie’s four MEIF funds focus on investments in high-quality infrastructure businesses across Europe, and investors in the funds are primarily pension funds and other institutional investors. Limited partners in MEIF II include BlackRock, BAE Systems’ pension fund and The State Pension Fund of Finland, according to PEI data.

Storebrand Livsforsikring and Macquarie couldn’t be reached for comment.