Brookfield Infrastructure completes equity offering
On December 2, 2016, Brookfield Infrastructure completed its previously announced equity offering of 15,625,000 L.P. units for gross proceeds of US$500 million. The units were issued, on a bought deal basis, at a price of US$32.00 per unit to a syndicate of underwriters co-led by RBC Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, Citibank, BofA Merrill Lynch and HSBC.
Concurrent with the public offering, Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and certain of its related entities (other than Brookfield Infrastructure) purchased, directly or indirectly, 8,139,000 redeemable partnership units of Brookfield Infrastructure's holding limited partnership (RPUs) at the offering price (net of underwriting commissions). The aggregate gross proceeds of the offering and private placement is approximately US$750 million.
Brookfield Infrastructure intends to use a portion of the net proceeds from the offering, together with the proceeds of the concurrent private placement, to fund their increased investment in a pending transaction to acquire a 90% controlling stake in Nova Transportadora do Sudeste S.A., with several institutional partners, for a total consideration US$5.2 billion. Any proceeds that are not used for the transaction will be used to fund a portion of Brookfield Infrastructure's growing backlog of organic growth projects in 2017.
Brookfield Infrastructure operates high quality, long-life assets that generate stable cash flows, require relatively minimal maintenance capital expenditures and, by virtue of barriers to entry and other characteristics, tend to appreciate in value over time. Its current business consists of the ownership and operation of premier utilities, transport, energy, and telecommunications infrastructure assets in North and South America, Australia, and Europe. It also seeks acquisition opportunities in other infrastructure sectors with similar attributes. Brookfield Infrastructure's payout policy targets 5% to 9% annual growth in distributions. Units trade on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the symbols BIP and BIP.UN, respectively.
Further information can be found on Brookfield Infrastructure's website.