Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Globally, with the exclusion of North America, $147bn has been raised for investment in the telecoms sector through 136 unlisted infrastructure funds that have closed since 2009.
In contrast, North America-focused funds secured one-third of this amount during the same timeframe, with $49bn raised through 39 vehicles.
Significantly, over half ($27bn) of the capital raised for North America-focused telecom funds in the past decade was secured in 2018, Preqin said.
In fact, 2018 was the only year in which North America-focused telecoms fundraising eclipsed that of the rest of the world.
Five multibillion-dollar fund closures drove the North American telecoms industry to this record; the largest, Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners III, achieved its hard cap of $7.2bn in July 2018.
Outside North America, 2018 was a record year for telecoms fundraising in general, and figures for H1 2019 are larger still; fundraising for the rest of the world has already broken the annual record and will likely continue to climb.
According to Preqin, eight funds in the rest of the world have closed and raised an aggregate $28bn thus far in 2019, including EQT Infrastructure IV, which will invest $10bn in telecoms and utilities, among other infrastructure projects.
The story of H1 2019 was decidedly more subdued in North America, though, as only half the number of telecom funds closed as in the rest of the world - at $2.0bn, the tot...................... To view our full article Click here
|