AMP acquires 50% of Optus Stadium owner

AMP Capital has acquired a 50 per cent ownership stake in the private company that developed Optus Stadium, adding to several other infrastructure assets it has purchased in Western Australia including Kalgoorlie prison and Port Hedland airport.

AMP announced it completed a deal earlier this month to hold a 50 per cent interest in Westadium, the state government’s partner in the development of Optus Stadium.

The vendor was UK-based investment group John Laing.

Aberdeen Asset Management, a subsidiary of Scotland-based Standard Life Aberdeen, will continue to hold the other 50 per cent stake in Westadium.

The financial details of AMP’S transaction with John Liang were not disclosed, but AMP said the acquisition occurred through its Community Infrastructure Fund, which brings assets under management of the fund to $3.7 billion.

It said more than $830 million in equity was invested in the fund.

Optus Stadium was developed by Westadium as a 'design, build, finance and maintain' project with the state government under a 25-year concession.

A design, build, finance and maintain project is a variation on a public-private partnership.

AMP Capital was advised in the Optus Stadium deal by Clayton Utz, Deloitte, Aon Risk Solutions and MBM.

CommIF fund manager Charles Savage said the interest acquired in Westadium had increased CommIF’s portfolio to 14 social infrastructure assets.

“CommIF holds a strong track record in the market and is recognised as a leading investor and manager of social infrastructure assets,” he said.

“Our clients value the secure and predictable revenue streams that social infrastructure projects offer.”

In 2012, AMP Capital purchased the Eastern Goldfields regional prison from Lendlease Infrastructure Investments and MLC, in a deal believed to be worth between $60 million and $80 million.

The prison had been developed as a public-private partnership.

In 2016, Infrastructure Capital Group, a 50-50 consortium comprised of Diversified Infrastructure Trust and AMP Capital, bought a 50-year lease on the Port Hedland International Airport for $205 million.