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Foresight Group Holdings Ltd on Tuesday said it is buying Infrastructure Capital Holdings Pty Ltd, an Australian specialist infrastructure investment manager.
Foresight said the acquisition is worth up to A$140 million, around £79.6 million. It will lead to ‘one of the leading independent renewable generation and infrastructure investors in Australia and will benefit from enhanced product and distribution capabilities.’
Foresight will pay A$105 million up front, with 50% of this in cash and 50% in new Foresight shares. The cash component is funded by existing financial resources, it explained. Foresight also will pay contingent consideration of up to A$35 million, as well as up to A$25 million for management performance.
Sydney-based Infrastructure Capital Holdings had about £2.8 billion in assets under management and £1.8 billion in funds under management as of March 31. Foresight itself reported £8.8 billion in AUM and £6.7 billion in FUM as of the same date, up from £7.2 billion and £5.1 billion a year ago respectively.
Foresight, which is a Guernsey-based infrastructure and private equity investment manager, also on Tuesday reported profit growth in its financial year that ended March 31 and hiked its total dividend.
Pretax profit surged 78% to £27.9 million from £15.7 million a year ago. Revenue grew 25% to £86.1 million from £69.1 million.
The firm proposed a final dividend of 9.8 pence per share, bringing the total to 13.8p, a sharp increase from the 1.7p total dividend it declared for the previous financial year. The company has 60% target payout ratio.
Regarding Foresight's outlook, Chair Bernard Fairman said: ‘Although the decarbonisation of energy generation and the shift to a more sustainable society is accelerating, these changes continue to present multi-year opportunities for us. We are confident that the outlook for Foresight in the coming year and beyond continues to be very positive.’
Foresight shares were 3.4% higher at 382.63 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
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