An investment fund focused on smart city infrastructure and seeded by a major Dutch pension fund has invested another 200 million euros (A$330 million) in developing smart streetlighting in Italy.
The Smart City Infrastructure Fund’s (SCIF) investment partner Patrizia is the vehicle for the investment after the purchase of three Italian streetlight companies Ottima, Selettra and Atlantico earlier this year.
The new 200 million euro investment brings the SCIF’s commitment to the Italian smart city project to 950 million euros.
The SCIF was seeded by A$850 billion Dutch pension fund APG with a A$400 million allocation at the beginning of 2019 to facilitate the development of smart city infrastructure across Australia, Europe, and North America.
Jose Martinez Artiles, an investment director at Patrizia Infrastructure who manages the Italian smart streetlighting platform, said: “Our smart streetlighting investments and smart city bolt-on acquisitions in Italy continue to go from strength to strength.
“Since our first acquisition in 2022, we have built solid relationships with many municipalities, who see the benefits of smart streetlighting, both from a financial and environmental perspective.”
The SCIF helps cities deal with continued urbanisation, climate change and resource scarcity, the development of sustainable communities, technological advancement and digitalisation.
“The ultimate objective of the fund is to improve quality of life and meet the needs of cities, allowing city officials to interact directly with the community, to improve physical infrastructure and how essential services are delivered,” APG’s head of infrastructure for Europe, Ron Boots, said when the fund made its first allocation.
Australian asset management company Whitehelm Capital created the fund as a platform for institutional investors to pool their funds and find smart city opportunities around the world. The fund had its second close in September 2021, having raised a total of A$1.2 billion.
Whitehelm Capital and APG put the global funding requirement for such projects at A$2.3 trillion by 2025, but say that they often struggle to gain the attention of institutional finance.
Although based in Sydney, Whitehelm made a name for itself in energy and infrastructure investment globally, investing in Britain’s Green Investment Bank alongside Macquarie Group.
