AMP Capital creates team to facilitate infrastructure equity co-investments for institutions

AMP Capital has established a dedicated global direct investments team in response to a growing preference for large institutional investors to gain access to infrastructure through direct equity investment.

The new function will oversee direct investments made alongside AMP Capital’s infrastructure equity funds, including consortium management, negotiation and pricing, deal syndications, fund co-investments and separate accounts, focussing on delivering attractive investment solutions and supporting investors to achieve their goals.

AMP Capital has appointed Dylan Foo as Global Head of Direct Investments, to oversee the new global function as it grows this strategic pillar of its business. Mr Foo is currently Partner and Head of Infrastructure Equity, Americas, overseeing origination, execution and asset management of infrastructure investments in the region. He will continue in his existing role, supported by the Americas team across offices in New York, Chicago and Orange County, in addition to his new responsibilities.

Patsy Sandys, an Associate Director on the Infrastructure Equity team in London, will lead the Direct Investments desk in Europe, reporting to Mr Foo.

Commenting on the appointments, Boe Pahari, Global Head of Infrastructure Equity, AMP Capital said: “We are focussed on delivering excellent client service, providing solutions, and embracing innovation in the evolving infrastructure investment landscape. As talented investment professionals, Dylan and Patsy are well positioned to find and develop the right opportunities for our larger institutional clients who are keen to add direct infrastructure investments to their portfolios.

“Infrastructure offers investment characteristics that are attractive to most institutional investors – predictable cashflows, attractive yields, defensive characteristics, long investment periods and liability-matching potential. It is therefore of little surprise that institutions are growing their allocations to infrastructure and increasingly seeking to benefit directly from the performance of assets that suit their investment strategy.

“As demand for the asset class continues to grow, the competitive market has pushed up prices and is compressing yields, so investing selectively is crucial. Making prudent investments and ensuring the sustainability and profitability of infrastructure assets requires specialist sector expertise, origination skills and active management, and we see investment managers who have demonstrated these strengths increasingly partnering with institutional investors in direct investments.

“Having established ourselves as a global mid-market sector specialist, supported by a number of landmark deals across multiple geographies, we understand how important it is for our large clients to increase their access to these opportunities, and their desire to partner with us is testament to the confidence in our investment strategy, our team, and our track record.”

Biographies
Dylan Foo has worked at AMP Capital since 2006 and has held investment roles in both Europe and North America. He has been responsible for the development of the North America infrastructure equity business, including the investments in ITS ConGlobal and Everstream. He has executed infrastructure transactions across the globe, and as a member of AMP Capital’s infrastructure investment committee, has overseen the deployment of over $3bn in equity investments globally.

Patsy Sandys has worked at AMP Capital since 2009, initially as a New Zealand based-legal counsel. After moving to London as a Senior Legal Counsel and Compliance Officer, and after several years of working closely with the Infrastructure Equity team, Ms Sandys moved to an investment role in AMP Capital’s infrastructure business in 2016. She began her career as a solicitor at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts in New Zealand.