Q3 2021 infrastructure lenders rankings

inspiratia reviews the performance of lenders in infrastructure sphere for Q1 to Q3 2021, with data centres making a strong appearance in the top lender's portfolio

Digital infrastructure and transport continue to clinch inspiratia's rankings for  Q1 to Q3 2021, with data centres playing a major role in the top lender's performance across deal volume and deal count.

The top lender for the first three quarters of 2021, having lent a total allocated volume of US$7.2 billion (£5.3 bn €6.2bn) is SMBC. The lender's infrastructure portfolio for the year thus far has touched every corner of the globe but has more interestingly had its hands in digital infrastructure which – by deal count – now occupies more than a third of its total deal flow for 2021 so far.

SMBC's largest deal for now remains the US$4.1 billion (£3bn €3.5bn) Unsere Grüne Glasfaser (UGG), the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) optic rollout in Germany to rural and semi-rural areas, in which SMBC provided US$1.97 billion (£1.4bn €1.7bn) in debt financing alongside an 11-strong consortium of lenders. Adding to its total allocated volume for Q1 to Q3 2021 is the US$925 million (£685m €801m) acquisition of Ascenty Data centre, also in Q1; the US$1.2 billion (£888m €1bn) DATA4 expansion in Q2, and most recently the lender provided financing for the development of a 20MW hyperscale greenfield DC development for a data centre in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Another notable deal by allocated volume is the acquisition of Universal Terminal,  located on Jurong Island, one of the largest storage terminals in Singapore and Asia Pacific.

Singapore port operator, Jurong Port, acquired the 41% controlling stake from previous owners Hin Leong Trading in what resulted in a US$1.12 billion (£806m €936m) deal. Other shareholders include PetroChina (25%) and MAIF Investments (34%). SMBC participated in the SGD 1.5 billion (US$1.1 bn £805m €935m) debt financing.

Ranked in second place is Deutsche Bank with an allocated volume of US$1.9 billion (£1.4bn €1.6bn). It's largest deal concerns Arcus Infrastructure Partners €955 million (£820m US$1.15bn) acquisition of Smart Meter Assets 1 Limited, a UK meter asset provider – Deutsche Bank was involved in the US$576 million (£410m €477m) debt package. The smart meter provider will fund and own domestic electricity and gas meters to be leased to energy suppliers.

UniCredit ranked in third with an allocated volume of US$1.2 billion (£888m €1bn), largely driven by its recent participation in the financing of the Pedemontana Lombarda Motorway. The project involves the construction of 67km of motorway, 20km of bypass roads and 70km of road connections in the northern part of Milan, Italy. The financing was provided by a several consortium banks including UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, European Investment Bank and others which reached financial close in September [2021].

Deal count

Analysing the deal count for Q1 to Q3 2021, SMBC maintains its leading position, with a total of 27 closed deals.

Another notable deal under SMBC's belt is the primary financing of the Scarborough Subway PPP in Ontario, Canada. Construction company Strabag is the developer after winning the PPP contract in May [2021] for a fixed CAD$757 million (US$624m £442m €511m) to design, build, and finance the 7.8km tunnel extension. SMBC provided the debt financing of CAD$328 million (US$271m £192m €221m) which reached financial close in May [2021].

Ranked in second place is Societe Generale with a total of 11 deals. Most recently, the lender participated in Royal Adelaide Hospital's AUD2.2 billion (US$1.6 bn £1.1bn €3.3bn) sustainability-linked loan, Australia's largest green loan for a PPP, and the world's largest for the healthcare.

The Celsus consortium, which includes investment manager AMP Capital, secured the loan in July [2021] from a consortium of banks that also include CBA, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, ANZ, ING Bank, MUFG and others.

Following in third place is NordLB, closing a total of eight deals. Notably, the bank was part of the group of lenders  that provided a US$321 million (£235m €266m) of debt package for the rollout of FttH networks in  Cote d'Or and Landes. The first network, Corai in Cote d'Or  will service 57,000 households by 2022, whilst the second network Pixl aims to cover 105,000 connections in Landes by 2023.

Q3 2021 focus

Examining the data closely for Q3 2021, SMBC secured first place mainly from a with five deals and a total allocated volume of US$46 million (£34.3m €40.1m).

SMBC's deal activity in Q3 2021 is driven by three data centre deals spanning Europe and the Asia Pacific. One of which is the financing of EdgeConneX's two data centres in Warsaw, Poland. SMBC participated in the deal, providing support to the development and operations of two greenfield data centres. The deal reached financial close in August [2021] with a transaction value of US$172m (£124m €146m).