Australian, British Pension Players Join Canadian Retirement Manager in UK Port Deal

Australia’s Cbus ($46 billion) and First State Super ($70 billion), along with Britain’s GLIL Infrastructure ($1.7 billion), have each bought minority stakes in UK-based Forth Ports from Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP).

PSP remains the majority owner of Forth, which runs ports in the UK. The deal with the two Australian and the British pension entities follows PSP’s purchase last week of Arcus European Infrastructure Fund 1’s position in Forth Ports. PSP said it sought to team with other long-term investors interested in supporting the commercial ports business. Enter the three other institutional players.

For Cbus, the investment is the Australian superannuation fund’s first direct offshore infrastructure investment. A superannuation supplements government-backed pensions. Cbus covers the building and construction sectors. First State started out to benefit just New South Wales government employees but now is open to all Australians. GLIL is an investment vehicle for the London, Manchester, and other public pension funds.

PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension managers, had $153 billion in net assets under management as of March 31.

Forth Ports owns and operates eight commercial ports in the UK. PSP has been investing in the business since 2011.

Patrick Samson, PSP’s managing director and head of infrastructure investments, said he is looking forward to partnering with the two Australian supers and the UK infrastructure business following the Arcus stake acquisition. “We will continue to own a majority of Forth Ports, which will form a core part of our UK infrastructure investments portfolio,” Samson said.