Strategic Partners raises $860m for infra secondaries

Strategic Partners has broken the back of fundraising on its latest infrastructure secondaries firm.

The Blackstone subsidiary has raised $862 million for Strategic Partners Infrastructure III, according to the firm’s fourth-quarter results. The fund was registered in December and employs Uruguay-based Compass Group and wealth-management-focused iCapital Securities as placement agents, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Infrastructure III is the successor to Real Assets II, which closed above its $1 billion target on $1.75 billion in April 2018, Secondaries Investor reported. The fund has made a net internal rate of return of 17 percent and a net multiple of 1.2x, according to Blackstone’s results announcement.

Real Assets II targets the utility, power generation, renewables, transportation, waste management, shipping, parking, and midstream and upstream energy industries. It is understood that Fund III has the same mandate.

In January, Partners Group co-chief executive and head of private equity David Layton said the firm was preparing for a boom in infrastructure secondaries volumes “on the back of record primary raising”.

Secondaries Investor is aware of two infrastructure GP-led deals in market and several portfolios with infrastructure tranches. Last month we reported that Alaska Permanent Fund was coming to market with a portfolio comprised of around 40 percent infrastructure stakes. As much as $2 billion of stakes were initially evaluated for sale, though the transacted amount is likely to be around $500 million.