Schiphol, 15 May 2019 – DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I (“DIF”) and SL Capital Infrastructure II SCSp (“ASI”) are pleased to announce the financial close of its 100% acquisition of UNITANK from the family owners, with ASI and DIF each acquiring a 50% stake. The financial close follows on from the agreement signed on 27 February 2019 and upon receipt of the necessary merger clearance from the German competition authority.

UNITANK is a market leading independent and neutral infrastructure and services provider storing liquid oil products, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company owns and operates five terminals in Germany and one terminal in Belgium, all in key strategic locations. The terminals handle diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and heating oil and have a total storage capacity of c. 1.1 million cubic meters. Servicing both strategic stockholding agencies with product storage as well as commercial clients with product throughput provides UNITANK with a stable and resilient business model.

The acquisition provides ASI and DIF with a strong and differentiated platform in the German liquid bulk storage and throughput market. Its flexible business model, high-quality and state-of-the-art asset base, and operational excellence positions the company well for the future. The consortium will continue to back the company’s long-term and successful strategy for the business.

Willem Jansonius – Partner and Head of Core Infrastructure at DIF

“We firmly believe in the strategy as set by the current shareholder and management team. We are impressed with the commercial re-positioning of the business and its importance in providing essential services in its clients’ supply chains. We appreciate the well-invested asset base and the resulting high standards of operational excellence, which are essential to UNITANK’s current and future positioning.”

Dominic Helmsley – Head of Economic Infrastructure at Aberdeen Standard Investments

“We consider UNITANK to be a highly successful provider of storage capacity for strategic stockholding agencies and a key strategic partner for oil majors. We value the company’s historic growth and see significant future upside. Together with our partner DIF we look forward to working closely with UNITANK management in supporting the business and exploring further business opportunities.”

Jan Westedt – Owner

“Our family has run UNITANK over two generations with a strategy emphasising close and trusted partnerships with our clients and employees, which were key elements of our success story. We are glad that DIF and ASI together with the management team will continue to pursue a long-term investment strategy centred around our philosophy and corporate culture.”

   

About DIF

DIF is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with €5.6 billion of assets under management across seven closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, North America and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

• DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated assets and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.
• DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I targets equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors with mid-term contracted income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.

DIF has a team of over 120 professionals, based in eight offices located in Schiphol (the Netherlands), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact: Allard Ruijs, Partner; a.ruijs@dif.eu.

 

About ASI

• Aberdeen Standard Investments is a leading global asset manager dedicated to creating long-term value for our clients, and is a brand of the investment businesses of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life Investments. With over 1,000 investment professionals, we manage €562.7 billion of assets worldwide. We have clients in 80 countries supported by 50 relationship offices. This ensures we are close to our clients and the markets in which we invest.  (*as of 31 December 2018)

• We are high-conviction, long-term investors who believe teamwork and collaboration are the key to delivering repeatable, superior investment performance.

• Standard Life Aberdeen plc is headquartered in Scotland. It has around 1.2 million shareholders and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

• You can access the Aberdeen Standard Investments media centre here: https://www.aberdeenstandard.com/news-and-media