Plenary Group seeks new backer; valuation up to $1b
Street Talk understands the public infrastructure developer and fund manager is seeking a new long-term investor to inject capital into its balance sheet.
Infrastructure giant Plenary Group is looking towards its next leg of growth, tapping M&A adviser Highbury Partnership to launch a global capital raising.
Street Talk understands the public infrastructure developer and fund manager is seeking a new long-term investor to inject capital into its balance sheet. The proceeds will be used to turbocharge its expansion strategy and invest in future projects.
The circa-$1.3 billion Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre is part of a public-private partnership.
Plenary operates in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, as well as in Australia, where it has developed landmarks such as the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Industry sources say Plenary could attract a value of up to $1 billion.
Locally, the group’s assets under management comprise 21 projects worth more than $31 billion.
What shareholder CDPQ makes of all this is a key question. Still, it would make a decent investment for an institutional investor such as a superannuation fund or an overseas pension fund that already plays in infrastructure and is seeking long-term, stable returns. Investment banks with a presence in Australia could also be sniffing around.
Plenty Group’s sales flyer, Australia projects
CDPQ, a Canadian pension fund, picked up its 20 per cent in Plenary Asian Pacific operations from Deutsche Bank in 2016. Plenary could also be attractive to a core plus infrastructure investor who is looking for a foothold in the public-private partnership sector. Sources said the founders and management would continue to retain majority ownership, alongside 20 per cent owner Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec, and would work closely with the new investor. MinterEllison is onside to advise.
Plenary Group CEO David Lamming. Graham Jepson
Plenary was started by former ABN Amro banker John O’Rourke almost two decades ago. O’Rourke and three colleagues – Ray Wilson, Jim Cox and Paul Oppenheim – threw in their jobs at the Dutch bank to set up Plenary in 2004 after identifying a gap in the market for an independent “developer owner” to take positions in infrastructure projects. It has since grown to be an investor, developer and manager of public infrastructure projects, including the $3.7 billion Sydney Metro and the Gold Coast Light Rail.
The investment house has been particularly active in real estate, and is developing a $600 million building for UNSW alongside ISPT, HESTA and UniSuper. It is also La Trobe University’s partner for the redevelopment of a campus in Melbourne’s suburb of Bundoora, beating a consortium made up of Macquarie and Lendlease in the final round of a competitive process.
CDPQ swooped on Plenary’s North American operations in 2020 – which is not the subject of the capital raising. The capital raising process commenced in August and is expected to be all sewn up in the new year.
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