Sunya’s Post

📣 Stonepeak Closes Opportunities Fund with $3.15 Billion of Commitments - Stonepeak is a leading alternative investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets. - Final close of Stonepeak Opportunities Fund: The Fund was meaningfully oversubscribed, closing at $3.15 billion, above its original $2.5 billion target. - Investor base: The Fund received commitments from a diverse group of global investors. - Investment focus: Targets core-plus and value-add opportunities in middle-market infrastructure, particularly in communications, transport and logistics, and energy and energy transition assets in North America and Europe. - Investment strategy: Includes control investments and structured capital solutions, leveraging Stonepeak's operating capabilities, bespoke structuring expertise, experience with complex situations, and thematic approach to deal sourcing. - Current status: Over 40% of the Fund's capital is already committed to six investments. - Leadership comments: - Jack Howell, Co-President of Stonepeak and co-head of the Opportunities Fund: Highlighted the need for a nimble, creative approach and a deep understanding of industry themes to source high-quality, mid-market infrastructure investments. - Nikolaus Woloszczuk, Senior Managing Director at Stonepeak and co-head of the Opportunities Fund: Expressed gratitude for investor support, emphasizing the team's investment acumen, sector expertise, and global capabilities. - Legal counsel: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as fund counsel.

For this month's cover story, Infrastructure Investor's Anne-Louise Stranne Petersen and Zak Bentley spoke to #infrastructure GPs, LPs and placement agents to find out what is driving the increase in #coinvestment seen in the past 18-24 months. While the main driver from an LP perspective has always been lower fees, it isn't the only factor. Read the story below for insights from: Cube Infrastructure Managers' Renaud de Matharel, Astrid Advisors' Louisa Yeoman, Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation's Ross Alexander, CAIA, New Jersey Division of Investment's Niraj Agarwal, CFA, Brookfield's Rene Lubianski, InfraRed Capital Partners Ltd's Michael Straka, MORRISON's Vincent Gerritsen, Palladio Partners's Anna Baumbach, Infracapital's Peter Mitchev, NextEnergy Capital's Aldo Beolchini, StepStone Group's Todd L. And a conversation with Ropes & Gray LLP's Chris Townsend on #clubdeals. https://lnkd.in/dPDVSNDx

Shared my thoughts on the prospects of private equity and real assets in 2024 at Preqin News. I would appreciate if you could share your perspectives with me via private message. “Private equity in 2024: views on deals, fundraising, and performance in the year ahead” ( https://lnkd.in/dAwvXeGh ) On deals... ‘There are several opportunities that are expected to continue in the new year. The price gap between buyers and sellers is expected to get narrower, which will be good in terms of allowing transactions to close at a fair price. At the same time, dislocation is creating opportunities, such as in distress, recapitalizations, divestitures, and take privates, but these opportunities have to be assessed very carefully as the expected alpha may not be realized.’ On performance... ‘The return of capital from funds, especially towards their end of life, is an area of concern given the fact that many GPs are facing difficulty in monetizing their portfolio. We’d like to see GPs being much more active in GP-led secondaries and continuation funds to release funds to the LPs.’ Real assets in 2024: views on infrastructure and real estate for the year ahead (https://lnkd.in/dFJFWCwn) On performance… ‘The energy transition segment appears to be very attractive in the short to medium term. In addition to considering investing in projects, one could also consider transactions in the supply chain and the value chain, including technology, application infrastructure, and equipment. ‘However, sub-sectors which are fully/fairly priced or have current or expected excess supply should be avoided. It’s important to be able to do thorough due diligence on the capability of the GPs to deploy and deliver acceptable returns in strategies such as energy transition and renewables.’

Where are the opportunities in global infrastructure equities? Co-founder and managing director of the Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure strategy, Andrew Maple-Brown spoke with Kate Burgess from Capital Brief on which infrastructure sub-sectors he focuses on, what the opportunities are in listed infrastructure, and why many infrastructure companies have been taken private in Australia. Read more in this Capital Brief article: https://lnkd.in/gQfcyE_m #infrastructure #listedequities #outlook

Firms are aggressively marking up private equity stakes bought in secondary market Funds are claiming big one-day windfalls in the secondary market for private-equity stakes. For example, "the last day of September 2023 was very good for Hamilton Lane Private Assets Fund. It recorded a 39% gain on a group of investments it bought the day before for $52 million, giving a quick boost to the fund’s performance. Of the three dozen investments it bought on Sept. 29, nearly half had more than doubled in value on Sept. 30. The Hamilton Lane fund’s stake in a fund that focuses on Latin America rose eightfold in 24 hours," according to the Wall Street Journal. StepStone Private Venture and Growth Fund report even more remarkable gains, marking up investments by multiples in a single day. "Other secondary investors that have reported significant markups include Pomona Investment Fund and Ares Private Markets Fund. On June 30, 2023, for example, the Pomona fund bought a stake in an Asia-focused Bain Capital fund for $3.1 million and wrote it up 62% the same day. The Ares fund paid $32.8 million on Dec. 29, 2023, a Friday, for a stake in a Blackstone fund and said its fair value was 70% higher two days later." Although an investor who wants out early may be willing to sell its stake at a big discount, "...the significant markups raise questions about the true fair value of the investments. The secondary market volume for private-equity funds hit $112 billion in 2023." 💰 “With such large day-one gains, investors may take pause to consider whether such fair-value figures are too good to be true,” said Tom Linsmeier, an accounting professor at the University of Wisconsin and a former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets U.S. accounting rules. "Under U.S. accounting rules, an asset’s “fair value” is the price it would sell for in an orderly transaction on a given date. The classic example is a public company’s stock. For holdings that don’t trade regularly, estimating fair value often is more difficult and more subjective." "The markups also point to a potentially broader issue: What if the discounted prices on the secondary market are the more accurate gauge of the investments’ real-life values? Then the asset values for stakes on countless other investors’ balance sheets may be inflated. The NAVs reported by private-equity funds have been long questioned because of their lack of volatility."💡 Overly generous valuations are a risk often overlooked by private equity fund investors. #PrivateEquity #Investments #FinancialMarkets

The Select Sector SPDR Real Estate Sector ETF (@sectorspdrs), launched in 2015, offers investors a strategic approach to real estate investments. With a concentrated portfolio of 31 stocks, XLRE dedicates over 60% of its holdings to top names like Prologis, American Tower, and Equinix. 'One of XLRE's standout features is its expense ratio, which is currently at 0.09%,' the press release notes. This cost-effective structure allows investors to gain exposure to the real estate sector without incurring high fees. XLRE's portfolio comprises S&P 500 component companies, ensuring a focus on large-cap names in the real estate sector. The ETF provides daily reporting on portfolio holdings and allocations, promoting transparency for investors. 'By focusing on a concentrated collection of high-quality real estate companies, XLRE provides an opportunity to gain targeted exposure,' the release states. With over $7 billion in assets under management, XLRE offers a dedicated focus on sectors like Industrial, Data Center, and Telecommunications. #realestateinvesting #sectoretf #lowcostinvesting @sectorspdrs

"The Fund targets core-plus and value-add opportunities in the middle-market infrastructure sector, including control investments as well as structured capital solutions, with a focus on communications, transport and logistics, and energy and energy transition assets in North America and Europe." #PrivateWealth #WealthManagement #RealAssets #PrivateMarkets #AlternativeInvestments #Alts #UHNW #HNW #FamilyOffices #IBD #RIA #PrivateInvestments #PrivateCredit #PrivateEquity

Macquarie Raises $1.9 Billion of Equity To Invest in Global Real Estate Macquarie Real Estate Partners Has Invested in Logistics, Living and New Economy Office Sectors Macquarie has invested in Goodstone Living, which is developing Smith's Garden, a build-to-rent scheme in Birmingham. (Goodstone Living) By Bert Erik ten Cate CoStar News June 24, 2024 | 10:57 A.M. Macquarie Asset Management has announced the final close of Macquarie Real Estate Partners, an opportunistic real estate fund with approximately $1.9 billion of equity to invest worldwide. MREP is the second vehicle in Macquarie Asset Management Real Estate’s opportunistic fund series, following the Asia-Pacific opportunistic real estate partnership (MREP Asia 1), which held its final close in 2021 and is now deployed across developed markets in the region.  The equity will be invested across a combination of fund commitments and co-investment demand, from a strong contingent of institutions, including pension and sovereign wealth funds in Australia, Canada and the Middle East.

In recent years, #infrastructure fund sizes have consistently grown larger and larger. We've seen middle-market fund managers grow into large-cap managers, and large-cap funds evolve into mega funds, resulting in the rise of capital concentration. Check out my article from our 2024 Real Assets Market Overview to learn more about the opportunity we're seeing in the infrastructure middle market: https://gag.gl/9sP5lO

Great article! We completely agree. This is why at I Squared, we focus on middle market value-add infrastructure. We see significantly better value creation in the middle market, with reasonable financing and more exit optionality.