Primevest Capital Partners is preparing to launch a European mobility infrastructure debt fund next quarter with a EUR 500m target, according to Bas Magielse, director of parking and mobility investments at the Dutch real assets manager.

The Primevest European Mobility Infrastructure Fund, which is expected to be Luxembourg-domiciled with a 10-year life plus extension options, is targeting a first close of about EUR 75m in the fourth quarter, Magielse said.

The fund, which is targeting a 12% plus return and a 4% annual cash yield, is expected to have a brownfield bias, although Primevest has not set a fixed brownfield and greenfield split, Magielse added.

It will seek investments in assets including parking, motorway service and rest areas, truck parking facilities, fleet infrastructure and EV charging infrastructure, in the UK, Benelux, Nordics, DACH region and France, according to Peter Helfrich, CEO of Primevest Capital Partners.

“We believe mobility infrastructure is emerging as a distinct institutional asset class,” said Frank Noé, head of capital formation and sustainability at Primevest.

The Utrecht-headquartered real assets manager, which has around EUR 3.5bn in assets under management, will launch fundraising once it has hired a placement agent.

The new fund, which will seek to raise a further EUR 500m of debt to help fund its deals, will build on the manager’s longstanding car parking platform managed by its real estate funds.

The strategy will primarily target income-generating assets with “stable cash flows from day one”, while creating additional value through “operational optimisation and complementary mobility services,” Magielse said.

Primevest is branching out from car parks, a sector it has invested in for more than 20 years, as it sees structural changes in mobility, freight transport, urbanisation and electrification creating a wider investable market, Helfrich said.

“This is evolving from where we were, to where we believe the world is going to,” Helfrich said.

Helfrich said EV charging is moving beyond its earlier phase as “a more startup, higher risk capital market” and is increasingly becoming investable for long-term infrastructure investors, “particularly where charging is combined with scarce locations and long-term site control.”

Primevest, which has around EUR 1.5bn of existing mobility-related assets, is seeing pipeline opportunities mainly in Germany, the Nordics, the Netherlands and the UK, Magielse said.

Target deal sizes are expected to range from about EUR 25m to EUR 150m, and potentially up to EUR 200m.

Primevest is speaking with institutional investors across Europe and “selected international markets” to broaden its investor base beyond its mainly German and Austrian LPs, Helfrich said.

Primevest also manages the Communications Infrastructure Fund (PCIF), a 2017-vintage vehicle focused on passive telecoms assets in western Europe, and is planning a second communications infrastructure fund, according to Infralogic data.

PCIF has invested in German fibre assets including Open German Fiber, a joint venture targeting FTTH rollout in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and a rural fibre rollout around the Frankfurt and Bonn metropolitan areas, according to Infralogic data.