French state-owned bank Caisse des Depots is looking at infrastructure investments abroad following its acquisition of a stake in a Norwegian pipeline, the head of its new infrastructure fund said. Caisse des Depots (CDC) has already invested in several infrastructure projects, from roads and rail to energy, but earlier this year it transferred its stakes in 10 projects to a dedicated infrastructure fund, CDC Infrastructure.
"We now have a mandate to make 20 percent of our investments outside France, in other European countries," CDC Infrastructure head Jean Bensaid told Reuters on Thursday. "Seventy percent of our investments will be in brownfield, operational assets."
Earlier this week Exxon Mobil announced that CDC Infrastructure had teamed up with a UBS infrastructure fund in a deal to acquire a 9.4 percent stake in Gassled, a gas transport system controlled by the Norwegian government through stakes owned by Statoil and state-owned Petoro.
In 2009 Gassco, the operator of Gassled, transported 99.8 billion cubic metres of natural gas - a record high - making Norway the second biggest gas supplier to the European Union behind Russia. Norway's energy ministry has to approve Exxon's sale. "This is a very low risk investment," said Bensaid. "The consortium receives fixed payments for transporting the gas, based on long-term tariffs regulated by the government, irrespective of the price of gas."
The value of the deal has not been disclosed and Bensaid declined to comment on it.
"Our fund is open-ended, we have invested 600 million euros in equity in projects so far but we are looking to invest a total of 1.5 billion euros by 2014. We usually invest in minority stakes in assets up to 49 percent," Bensaid said. The fund is also eyeing the 2.9 billion euro high-speed rail link between Brittany and Pays de la Loire as well as a 1 billion euro scheme to implement a new tolling system across France for trucks, Bensaid said.
It is also part of a consortium with Vinci and AXA Private Equity aiming to build and operate the 630 million-euro Charles de Gaulle Express rail link, linking the centre of Paris to the city's major airport.
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