AlbaCore Capital Group, MUFG Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust formed a new strategic partnership aimed at providing global investors with scalable and sustainable access to UK and European infrastructure debt.
The platform, which will launch investment grade and high yield investment strategies, will leverage MUFG Bank’s global project finance origination capabilities, combined with the midmarket origination expertise of AlbaCore’s infrastructure debt investment team, as well as the fundraising and investment management capabilities of AlbaCore, First Sentier Group and the Trust Bank. While MUFG and AlbaCore will jointly shape the strategic direction of the platform, AlbaCore as manager of the funds will retain full independence in asset selection and portfolio management on behalf of investors.
As part of the platform, AlbaCore will launch a new high yield infrastructure credit strategy, having secured seed funding from the Trust Bank. Leveraging the team’s expertise and relationships in the European infrastructure lending market, the high yield strategy will invest in unitranche, holding company and junior credit investments in infrastructure.
“Working together, AlbaCore and MUFG Bank will draw on a rich pool of expertise and resources to deliver compelling solutions to investors, underpinned by a specialized, experienced industry-leading investment team,” David Allen, managing partner and chief investment officer at AlbaCore, said. “Securing commitments from the Trust Bank for the first vintage of the infrastructure high yield strategy is a testament to the attractiveness of this opportunity set to investors and is pivotal in helping to bring innovative projects to market. Launching this strategy is a significant milestone for our Infrastructure Investment team, led by Viktor Kozel, managing director, and a natural extension of our broader credit offering.”
Fumitaka Nakahama, global head, global corporate and investment banking business group at MUFG, added, “We are pleased to be working with AlbaCore on this strategic partnership. This partnership is designed to unlock attractive risk-adjusted returns by addressing a structural financing gap in UK and European infrastructure, a sector underpinned by long-term global macro trends. In combining MUFG and AlbaCore’s expertise, we hope to help unlock the debt pipeline needed to advance the infrastructure of the future.”
Takafumi Ihara, group head, asset management and investor services business group at MUFG, said, “We are excited to support the infrastructure debt platform through this anchor investment. This strategic initiative aligns with that of our global asset management business, which is to expand our private product capability and competitiveness globally in the infrastructure debt space.”
