Infrastructure fund cost of capital

Hey all!

I was recently chatting with someone in the industry about Repsol selling part of its midstream business and the guy I was talking to said that "many times, companies cannot compete against a PE fund's cost of capital."

It might be a very simple answer, but if you could provide an insight as to what he meant by PE funds having "a lower cost of capital" and why this is the case, I would be very grateful.

Thanks!

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I find that comment to be strange, since PE funds in general probably have a higher return on equity threshold vs. strategics (who can usually always pay more due to synergies / strategic value), which is why when banks do their valuation football fields the "LBO" valuation is always the lowest. For generalist infra, it's typically in the 10-15% IRR target range, depending on how "risky" the business is, as compared to traditional PE where they underwrite to 20-25% IRR. But PE firms have an advantage in swift deal execution (better visibility to actually close the deal versus a strategic spinning its wheels forever, and faster DD), as well as ability to keep members of the original management team, since they're either getting axed in a strategic acquisition or will take on a diminished role. Not sure how that answers your question though.

 

The risk profile on "core" assets is long-term, stable, stress-resistant etc., so the expected return profile and cost of capital as a result in arbitrage-free conditions (i.e. theoretical) is also low. I imagine that this person was referring to experienced, large AuM funds, where you could indeed use low cost of capital as shorthand for overall fund risk/return profile due to their access to a deep and wide liquidity pool among LPs and banks.

 

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