Hogan Lovells has advised DIF on the disposal of a portfolio of 16 operational Public Private Partnership (PPP) assets to Aberdeen Asset Management. It marks the largest private trade of a portfolio of PPP equity assets ever to close in the Global PPP market.

DIF PPP was DIF’s first fund, launched in 2005 with committed capital of €121 million and has been fully invested since 2009. Several of the assets were jointly held between DIF PPP and DIF Infrastructure II (DIF II). DIF II has also sold its joint holding in these assets as part of the transaction. 15 of the assets are now majority owned by Aberdeen.

DIF was established in 2005 as an independent fund management company and has circa € 2bn of funds under management.  DIF has over 45 staff across seven offices in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Luxembourg, Madrid and Toronto.

The Hogan Lovells team advising DIF was led by London infrastructure, energy, resources and projects partner Andrew Briggs and senior associate Charles Ford.

Commenting on the sale, Andrew said:

"The quality, quantity and geographical and sector spread of our client DIF's assets made them extremely attractive to high quality buyers. Investment in PPP assets continues to grow due to their proven robustness and long-term high cash flow visibility, giving investors the opportunity to diversify their income stream with the potential of obtaining stable income over a sustained period.”