BaltCap has closed the first stage of capital raising for the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund II (BlnF II), and a significant part of the investment – about €50-100 million – is to be invested in Poland over the next 3-4 years, with a target of €200 million for BinF II, the company said.
The fund, over a 20-year period, is expected to contribute to strengthening the region’s security by narrowing the infrastructure financing gap in the Baltics and Poland, focusing on investments in clean energy, energy efficiency and social and transportation infrastructure, it stated.
The company indicated that BInF II will focus primarily on investments in renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar farms, biomass and biogas plants. It will also continue to help local governments improve the energy efficiency of buildings, as well as basic services, including the construction and renovation of schools, public buildings and other social infrastructure.
“The Baltics and Poland are facing an infrastructure gap of about €250 billion over the next seven years. With the support of international institutional investors, the BInF II fund will seek to finance infrastructure projects that enhance energy security and contribute to mitigating the negative effects of climate change,” said BaltCap managing partner Simonas Gustainis.
“BaltCap has been present in Poland since 2019, gradually increasing its involvement here. Poland is a very promising market that offers many interesting opportunities due to its large area as well as capital requirements. Therefore, our ambition is to invest between €50 and €100 million here in the next 3-4 years,” he added.
The company stressed that in Poland the infrastructure investment gap, according to BaltCap’s estimates, will be around €182 billion by 2030. Most of this amount relates to power generation infrastructure and thermal modernization projects (nearly €100 billion and €27 billion, respectively). The transportation sector will also face a significant capital deficit (a gap of €43 billion). For municipal infrastructure investment, the gap will be €9.5 billion.
BaltCap Infrastructure Fund II is the successor to the €103 million BInF I, which attracted debt capital to projects and invested a total of more than €350 million.
In Poland, BaltCap Infrastructure Fund I has completed or is in the process of completing several investments:
– modernization and improvement of energy efficiency of public infrastructure in the city of Mielno (West Pomeranian voivodeship);
– design, construction and maintenance of street lighting in the municipality of Kobylnica (Pomeranian voivodeship);
– Modernization and significant expansion of lighting infrastructure in the municipality of Miedźno (Silesian voivodeship);
– comprehensive modernization of sports infrastructure in the city of Luban (Lower Silesia Province), listed.
The BaltCap fund is the largest private equity investor in the Baltics, with a presence also in Poland and the Nordic countries. Since 1995, the fund has made more than 120 investments in various industrial sectors and raised capital of more than 900 million euros. BaltCap’s shareholders include well-known international institutional investors such as the EIB, EBRD and leading Scandinavian pension funds.
In Poland, BaltCap has been present for almost five years, implementing infrastructure projects for local governments. The fund’s main investor is the European Investment Fund (EIF). Investors involved in the fund also include Swedbank pension funds, SEB pension funds, Citadele and LHV.
Source: BaltCap and ISBnews
