Ex-Citi pro raises $3bn infrastructure fund

Alinda Capital, a firm led by the former head of project finance at Citigroup, has raised three times more than originally sought for a debut infrastructure fund, the ‘first in a series of infrastructure funds’.

New York- and London-based Alinda Capital Partners has raised $3 billion (€2.3 billion) for its debut infrastructure fund.

Alinda Infrastructure Fund I had an original target of $1 billion, according to its placement agent CP Eaton Partners, but raised its cap to accomodate investor demand.

The new fund will invest in public sector and energy infrastructure assets in North America and Europe.

Alinda is led by Christopher Beale, the former head of infrastructure finance and project finance at Citigroup. Before that, Beale was global head of project finance at Morgan Stanley and CSFB, and chairman of Beale Lynch Capital Partners, a private investment firm in New York.

Leading Alinda’s London office is Simon Riggall, former European head of project finance at Citigroup.

“Alinda plans to capitalize on the substantial shift in infrastructure asset ownership taking place, reflecting total investment opportunity estimated to exceed $500 billion in North America and Europe over the next five years,” according to a CP Eaton statement.

Beale said in a statement: “These investments are expected to be stable, long duration and relatively high dividend investments, with inflation protection. This fund is the first in a series of infrastructure funds that we hope to bring to market.”

Already the firm has committed one third of the fund’s capital to investments. The firm owns the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, toll bridges in Alabama, natural gas distribution utilities in several Western states, and an income fund in Canada that owns residential hot water tanks.

The firm has committed capital to an undisclosed, debut European deal.
Notably, in 2005, the firm acquired for $710 million Kinder Morgan Retail, the US natural gas retail distribution business, from Kinder Morgan, which was recently taken private by a consortium of private equity firms.