UBS Asset Management (UBS AM) has bought outright Portugal’s second largest supplier of gas to homes as part of its infrastructure investment strategy aimed at generating stable cash flows.
The asset manager – which has made the purchase through its real estate and and private markets arm – says the investment for a reported €100 million will also provide diversification.
Diversification and stable cash flows are two major aims of infrastructure investing, which is said to be of increasing importance to institutional investors.
The Portuguese company is called Gascan and is a distributor of piped liquefied petroleum gas and has 65,000 customers nationwide, mainly households.
UBS AM bought the firm from Arta Capital, a Spanish private equity investor, after an unsolicited approach. The value of the deal was not disclosed but Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Negócios reported the deal to be worth €100 million.
The investment was made on behalf of the asset manager’s global infrastructure equity strategy, with the transaction completed on an exclusive basis after an unsolicited approach to the Spanish private equity fund Arta Capital.
Bronte Somes, head of infrastructure equity Europe at the UBS AM private markets business, said it was the first deal for the infrastructure platform in Portugal and provides “attractive portfolio diversification from both a country and sub-sector perspective”.
“The asset will deliver stable and attractive cash flows. It also proves our capability to execute transactions on a bilateral basis in the infrastructure mid-market segment,” Somes said.
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