AMP Capital today announces they have completed a $130 million senior syndicated loan facility with Stilmark Holdings Pty Ltd to support its deployment of new mobile tower infrastructure across Australia.
Stilmark is an independent Australian tower company and neutral host operator that builds, owns and operates a national portfolio of telecommunication towers, which allow mobile carriers and wireless network operators to provide network connectivity to their customers.
The debt investment will be used to support the construction of mobile towers across Australia. These new structures will help satisfy customer demand for increased mobile connectivity and data speeds, provide an expanded network footprint for mobile carriers, and contribute to the ongoing development of leading mobile network infrastructure for Australians.
AMP Capital’s Head of Infrastructure Debt Asia, Simon La Greca said: “We are delighted to announce our first debt investment with Stilmark – the communications sector has been one of the most resilient industries during Covid-19 and the delivery of communications, particularly for mobile phone towers, provides an essential service for many Australians in an industry that will only continue to grow.
“The transaction is in line with our overall strategy to provide our investors with access to low risk, long-term investments that deliver stable returns. The Stilmark investment is an emblematic deal for our team, given the business is an essential infrastructure asset in Australasia backed by long-term contracted cash flows with reputable off-takers. The telecommunications sector is also seeing strong macro trends with the advent of 5G and increased consumer data use,” said Mr La Greca.
Stilmark founder and CEO Steven Butler commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with global investors of the calibre of AMP Capital to accelerate the rollout of mobile infrastructure for our customers. The rollout of 5G this year, together with the expected mmWave spectrum auction in 2021, is driving strong demand for telecommunications infrastructure in Australia. Stilmark is ideally placed to meet this demand.”
The investment with Stilmark is AMP Capital’s latest infrastructure debt deal in the Australasian region. Earlier this year, AMP Capital announced an infrastructure debt investment with Taiwanese wind power producer Swancor.
“We recognise there is an increasing need for private sector funding of infrastructure projects to meet growing demand. AMP Capital already has a strong track record in infrastructure debt across North America and Europe and our new strategy aims help to help bridge the funding gap for infrastructure projects in Asia Pacific. We are focused on sourcing attractive investment opportunities in Asia for our global investor base in sectors including energy, transportation, utilities, and digital infrastructure” said Mr La Greca.
Since 2001, AMP Capital’s Infrastructure debt team has invested more than US$8.8 billion in 78 assets globally as at 30 June 2020.
About AMP Capital
AMP Capital is a global investment manager with A$190 billion in assets under management as of 30 June 2020 and more than 250 investment professionals. AMP Capital has a heritage and strength in real estate and infrastructure, and experience in fixed income, equities and multi-asset solutions. AMP Capital is owned by AMP Limited, which was established in 1849, and is one of Australia's largest retail and corporate pension providers.
About Stilmark
Stilmark Holdings Pty Ltd is an Australian specialist tower infrastructure developer, owner and operator, established in 2013. Stilmark partners with mobile carriers and wireless network operators to deliver a fundamentally different approach to infrastructure deployment, focusing on long term alignment of incentives with our customers. Stilmark has a demonstrated track record on delivery of new tower assets, achieving market leading deployment speed with the highest quality standards. In 2017 US based ATN International Inc (NASDAQ:ATNI) joined Stilmark as a strategic investor. ATN is one of the largest neutral host mobile carriers in the US and owns and operates communications and energy infrastructure companies in several countries.
