Another Sovereign Wealth Fund and Canadian Pension Decides to Ride on Equis
Posted on 11/12/2020
Sovereign funds and Canadian pensions are keen on increasing exposure to renewable energy infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and the management team of Singapore-based Equis Development Pte Ltd, are investing US$ 1.25 billion in Equis Development Pte Ltd. Equis Development is focused on developing, constructing and operating primary and hybrid renewable energy and biomass generation, power grid distribution and transmission and waste infrastructure assets in Australia, Japan and South Korea. Equis Development is currently developing or constructing 40 assets across its target markets.
Equis Development will finance and be responsible for every stage of an asset’s lifecycle from origination, procurement, construction, engineering and development through to operations and maintenance, asset management and performance optimization. Equis Development plans to commit over US$ 2 billion into renewable energy and waste infrastructure assets across Australia, Japan, and South Korea over the next two years.
Credit Suisse was the financial adviser to the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and ADIA on the transaction.
Background
Equis raised over US$ 2.7 billion in private equity capital in a series of funds including Equis Asia Fund I, Equis Asia Fund II, and Japan Solar. In October 2017, Global Infrastructure Partners led an investor group to buy Equis Energy, a Singapore-based developer of renewable power projects, for US$ 5 billion including debt. Other investors that bought Equis Energy were the China Investment Corporation (CIC) and PSP Investments. The transaction includes assumption of debt liabilities of US$ 1.3 billion. After Equis divested a majority of these assets to the GIP investor group, the company changed its course.
In 2019, the Equis Group ceased raising and investing private equity funds and consolidated 100% of its ongoing investment initiatives and management team within a single Singapore corporate holding company, Equis Development. This corporate structure is ideally suited to enabling EDL to pursue and secure complex development stage projects.
