AquaTower owns and operates four water treatment plants in the regional Victorian towns of Ararat, Great Western, Halls Gap and Stawell under a contract with Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water.
The plants have been operating since 2002 and currently process around 2,400 mega litres each year for 13,100 users.
The AMP Capital Community Infrastructure Fund (CommIF) will take a 51 per cent stake in AquaTower while AMP Capital Core Infrastructure will hold the remaining 49 per cent.
Upon acquisition water utility service provider TRILITY will take over the operations and maintenance of AquaTower.
TRILITY has formed a strong strategic relationship with AMP Capital, operating and maintaining its other water asset, Murray River-based Riverland Water.
AMP Capital head of infrastructure for Australian and New Zealand, Paul Foster, said investors are attracted to social infrastructure as an asset class because its provides “ long duration, inflation-linked, high yielding investment returns at lower levels of volatility than traditional asset classes whilst offering a significant community benefit.”
“More institutional and individual investors are seeking opportunities that offer both attractive returns and generate real benefits to society.”
Mr Foster said interest had been driven by growing investor confidence in Public Private Partnership (PPP) and with PPPs becoming the preferred procurement method for a range of developments from schools to hospitals and even large scale projects such as the renewal of the Sydney Convention Centre.
“This gives investors more opportunities to boost their social infrastructure allocation or access the asset class for the first time,” said Mr Foster.
CommIF has now completed three deals in 2013 worth $525 million in enterprise value.
Mr Foster said AMP Capital has completed 11 acquisitions, totalling more than $1 billion in equity across Australian, New Zealand, the US, the UK, continental Europe and the Republic of Ireland during the last 12 months.
“We are well placed to take advantage of the growing interest across all sectors and geographies within the infrastructure asset class, including social infrastructure,” he said.
“We expect governments in Australia and globally to continue repackaging their existing assets and creating environments conducive to the investment of private and public sector capital into infrastructure, ensuring a robust environment for infrastructure investment into 2014 and beyond.”
