CERES INFRASTRUCTURE PRIVATE DEBT FUND
Ceres Infrastructure Asset Management runs the leading independent private debt fund dedicated to financing the renovation of existing core infrastructure assets in the United States of America.
Ceres partners with the public and/or private sector to finance large core infrastructure projects in various sectors such as transportation (airports, toll roads, bridges, tunnels, rail, parkings, etc.), distribution (water, waste and energy pipelines/grids), utilities, construction, telecommunication (optic fiber networks), social infrastructure (student housing, etc.) and specialty infrastructure (government/military buildings, courthouses, storages).
Ceres deploys large amounts of senior debt (> US$ 500 million) over the long term (> 20 years) to single infrastructure projects. Ceres is an alternative source of financing (to banks or muni-bonds) for municipalities/public entities, corporates and/or private equity funds to realize their asset renovation in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Ceres is a flexible solution (sculpts the debt amortization based on the cash flow profile of the asset to be renovated before and during operations) and matches the maturity of the loan with the duration of the concession. Ceres hereby reduces annuities hence the financial stress of the project thanks to the long-term and affordable nature of its financing, and avoids the refinancing cost/risk. Ceres’s debt does not end up on the public entity and/or the operator’s balance sheet(s) and enhances returns to shareholders of the project (private equity infrastructure funds, operators, etc.).
Ceres does not finance the acquisition of infrastructure assets. Rather it focuses on providing the capex needed and lends directly to a project company which has the concession to renovate the asset.
Indeed asset prices are too expensive and acquisitions become risky investments due to (i) the competition from ever more numerous and large equity infrastructure funds, (ii) the lack of debt available from banks, (iii) the current high interest rates, (iv) the expensive pricing of private credit acquisition financing and (v) the limited number of core infrastructure available for sale, included for regulation reasons (regulations prevent the sale of most airports in the US).
Ceres enables municipalities/public entities or corporates to keep their assets and renovate their infrastructures. Ceres does not ask the grantor (availability based) or the operator to pay anything or take part to the financing of Ceres. Ceres, will simply carve out some of the future cash flows coming from the specific asset to amortize its loan.
For U.S. institutional investors, Ceres offers the ability to gain direct exposure to high quality assets and visible run-off cash flows from tangible real infrastructures by investing in this fixed income defensive strategy. Ceres enables pension funds to match their assets and liabilities, get recurring attractive yields, lock current high interest rates for the long run, be uncorrelated to the market, and benefit from the best in class risk/reward ratio.
For operators, Ceres enables access to larger and more numerous projects without the burden/barrier to entry based on the operator’s balance sheet or financing ability. Ceres increases the chances of bidding success rate with pre-financed bids, accelerates the bidding process, and enables realization of backlog, while enhancing returns per project.
For private equity infrastructure funds, Ceres finances the renovation of newly acquired assets hence enabling private equity funds to acquire larger assets by avoiding them to invest the capex needed for the renovation of the asset, hereby increasing their IRR.
By helping to renovate core infrastructure assets, Ceres finances the creation of numerous jobs over the long-term. A renovated infrastructure with today’s quality standards ensures the optimized use of the asset. It also adapts infrastructures to new and evolving uses, embeds digital technology (ie. for highways: sensors for self-driving cars, traffic information, cameras, lighting, wifi, charging, etc.) while maximizes safety of both users as well as emergency first responders (firemen, policemen, etc.) and aligns it with more efficient and sustainable energy and climate targets. Municipalities also ensure they provide their taxpayers with new and cutting edge infrastructure.
Ceres is a real quantifiable socially responsible impact investing (ESG) sustainable product with long-lasting effects, which contributes to the real economy’s renovation. Ceres assists U.S. public entities in solving the infrastructure financing problem and helps offer a better service to communities, pensioners and taxpayers.