Australia’s Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) is targeting first close for its second flagship infrastructure equity fund by the end of this year at the earliest, according to two sources familiar.

Launched in early 2023, QIC Global Infrastructure Fund II (QGIF II) has secured around USD 700m in capital commitments to date, one of the sources said. The target is USD 3bn.

The manager has received anchor limited partner (LP) support from Australian superannuation funds for QGIF II, the sources said. Korean pension funds and Middle Eastern sovereign funds have also indicated their interest in participating, said one of the sources.

Around 70% of QGIF II will be allocated to Australian energy transition investments across the value chain, including renewables, transport, and utilities. The remainder will be deployed in OECD countries globally, including in the US and Europe. Average equity cheques will be between USD 50m-USD 200m, the source said.

The fund was launched with a global mandate before its focus was narrowed to Australia’s energy transition, after considering market feedback and policy tailwinds, said the source.

QIC declined to comment.

The Queensland manager has seen a reshuffle among its senior leadership amid the strategic pivot. It made several senior hires to its Australian energy investments practice in June after departures from its Sydney infrastructure and London teams.

QGIF II is seeded with a 50% stake in New Zealand and Australian smart metering business Bluecurrent (formerly Vector Metering), which it acquired in June last year. One of the deals QIC has been bidding on this is year in Australia is the iseek data centre sale, for which it has been shortlisted against Australian listed fund manager, HMC Capital.

According to QIC’s website, predecessor vehicle QGIF I (AUD 2.375bn (USD 1.6bn); 2015 vintage) is currently invested in:

Brussels Airport
Port of Melbourne
Hobart International Airport in Tasmania
Sydney-headquartered Tilt Renewables
San Francisco-based distributed infrastructure platform Generate
Houston-headquartered district energy provider CenTrio
New Zealand-based hospital operator Evolution Healthcare
Australian gas storage provider Lochard Energy
MasParc and Mobility, to operate campus parking for Boston’s Northeastern University, and
Australian hospital operator Nexus Hospitals.

QIC manages AUD 32.8bn across 22 direct infrastructure investments in five OECD countries.