UniSuper directly enters Europe with $1 billion investment in mobile towers
UniSuper, the award winning $115 billion superannuation fund open to all Australians, has secured a 5% indirect stake in leading mobile towers business Vantage Towers in an AUD $1 billion deal.
Vantage Towers is one of the leading mobile towers businesses in Europe with a portfolio of over 83,000 sites across 10 markets including Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. Vantage Towers’ anchor tenant and major shareholder is Vodafone, Europe’s largest mobile network operator.
Vodafone recently entered into an agreement with a GIP and KKR led consortium to invest in Vantage Towers. GIP and KKR are highly experienced infrastructure managers with strong track records in managing digital infrastructure. UniSuper has acquired its interest in Vantage Towers by joining the consortium through its relationship with KKR. UniSuper, together with KKR, other consortium partners and Vodafone, is excited to support, optimise and grow the business into the future.
This acquisition is UniSuper's first direct unlisted infrastructure investment in Europe, completed after a period of extensive due diligence.
Sandra Lee, UniSuper’s Head of Private Markets, was delighted to announce the investment, which will complement UniSuper’s large infrastructure portfolio including Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane Airports, Transurban Chesapeake, and a growing allocation to forestry assets.
“This is a high-quality defensive infrastructure investment with strong fundamentals and growth prospects. It adds to UniSuper’s approximately $15 billion private markets portfolio and is positioned to deliver excellent results for our members over the long term. The expected significant growth in data demand underpins our interest in the digital infrastructure sector. At a time of economic uncertainty, we remain cautiously opportunistic, and this is a great example of that approach.
We look forward to a strong relationship with KKR going forward as well as working alongside the Vantage Towers management team and our co-investors.
As genuine active long-term investors, we continue to look for sizable opportunities that grow our members’ retirement savings.”
