03 April 2024
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This announcement
has been determined to contain inside information.
PANTHEON
INFRASTRUCTURE PLC
Results for the year ended 31 December 2023
The Directors of the Company are pleased to announce
the Company's full year results for the year ended 31 December
2023. The full annual report and financial statements can be
accessed via the Company's website at
www.pantheoninfrastructure.com or by contacting the Company
Secretary by telephone on +44 (0) 333 300 1950.
Highlights:
· The
Company has now fully deployed its funds into a diversified
portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets, generating
dividends in line with, and NAV total returns exceeding, its
pre-IPO target.
· As
at 31 December 2023, the Company had invested in or committed £487m
to thirteen assets.
· The
Company announced three new investments during the year totalling
£96m: European towers business GD Towers, Nordic fibre operator
GlobalConnect, and UK based battery storage and electric bus fleet
specialist Zenobē.
· Net
asset value (NAV) of £504m; 106.6 pence per share as at 31 December
2023.
· NAV
growth of 7.8% during the year, and NAV Total Return of 10.4%.
· The
second interim dividend payment of 2p per share for the year ended
31 December 2023, payable on 23 April 2024, takes the full year
dividend to 4p per share.
·
£397m Market cap at 31 December 2023.
·
Increased revolving credit facility to £115m and extended to March
2027 after the year end, increasing available liquidity.
·
£5.8m of share buybacks during the year and a further £2.6m after
the year end, increasing NAV by 0.5p per share.
·
Refreshed buyback programme, after the year end, for up to £10m
going forward.
The portfolio comprises assets in the following
sectors: Digital, including wireless towers, data centres, and
fibre-optic networks; Power & Utilities, including electricity
generation, gas transmission and district heating; Renewables &
Energy Efficiency, including smart infrastructure, wind, solar, and
sustainable waste; and Transport & Logistics, including ports,
rail, roads, airports and logistics assets.
Vagn Sørensen, Chair, Pantheon
Infrastructure Plc, said: "I am pleased to present our annual report.
PINT's impressive performance, despite the economic challenges of
the last year, such as fluctuations in inflation, interest rates,
and valuation discount rates, speaks volumes. The resilience of
PINT's portfolio is further enhanced by its geographical and sector
split, ensuring increased diversification and mitigating ongoing
risks and uncertainty effectively. The dedication and discipline of
the team, backed by tried and tested investment processes, have
played a crucial role in overcoming obstacles and enabling PINT to
continue to deliver against its objectives."
Richard Sem, Partner at Pantheon, PINT's
investment manager, said: "Reflecting on our achievements amid challenging
market conditions this past year, it is very rewarding to have been
able to deliver on our stated strategy for investors. PINT's
thematic approach to investment, gaining exposure to assets and
companies backed by long-term secular trends, is underpinned by
Pantheon's robust processes, risk management, patience and price
discipline. We are particularly pleased to have fully deployed our
funds and exceeded our pre-IPO NAV total return target - and we
look forward to continuing to build value for our investors over
the long term by providing access to a diversified portfolio of
high-quality, global infrastructure assets."
Ends
For further information, contact:
Pantheon Ventures (UK)
LLP
Investment Manager
Richard Sem, Partner
Ben Perkins, Principal
|
+44 (0) 20 3356 1800
pint@pantheon.com
|
Investec Bank plc
Sole Sponsor, Financial Adviser and
Bookrunner
Tom Skinner
Lucy Lewis
Lansons
|
+44 (0) 20 7597 4000
|
Public relations advisors
Lucy Horne
Millie Steyn
|
pint@lansons.com
+44 (0)7921 468 515
+44 (0)7593 527 234
|
Notes to editors
Pantheon
Infrastructure PLC (PINT)
Pantheon Infrastructure PLC is a closed-ended
investment company and an approved UK Investment Trust, listed on
the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange's Main Market. Its
Ordinary Shares trade under the ticker 'PINT'. The independent
Board of Directors of PINT have appointed Pantheon, one of the
leading private markets investment managers globally, as investment
manager. PINT aims to provide exposure to a global, diversified
portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets through building a
portfolio of direct co-investments in infrastructure assets with
strong defensive characteristics, typically benefitting from
contracted cash flows, inflation protection and conservative
leverage profiles.
Further details can be found at
www.pantheoninfrastructure.com
LEI 213800CKJXQX64XMRK69
Pantheon
Pantheon has been at the forefront of private markets
investing for more than 40 years, earning a reputation for
providing innovative solutions covering the full lifecycle of
investments, from primary fund commitments to co-investments and
secondary purchases, across private equity, real assets and private
credit. The firm has partnered with more than 1,000 clients,
including institutional investors of all sizes as well as a growing
number of private wealth advisers and investors, with approximately
$62bn in discretionary assets under management (as of June 30,
2023).
Leveraging specialized experience and a global team of
professionals across Europe, the Americas and Asia, Pantheon
invests with purpose and leads with expertise to build secure
financial futures. Further details can be found at
www.pantheon.com.
PANTHEON INFRASTRUCTURE PLC
Access to high-quality global infrastructure
assets
Purpose
Our purpose is to
provide investors of all types with easy and immediate access to a
diversified portfolio of high‑quality
global infrastructure assets via a single vehicle, offering both a
regular dividend payment and targeting capital growth.
This portfolio, which is diversified by sector and
geography, is designed to generate sustainable, attractive returns
over the long term. We achieve this by targeting assets which have
strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, and
underpin the transition to a low‑carbon
economy. We invest in private assets which we believe will benefit
from strong downside protection through inflation linkage and other
defensive characteristics.
About us
Pantheon
Infrastructure Plc (the 'Company' or 'PINT') is a closed-ended
investment company and an approved UK investment trust, listed on
the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange's Main
Market.
PINT provides exposure to a global, diversified
portfolio (the 'Portfolio') through direct co‑investments in high‑quality
infrastructure assets with strong defensive characteristics,
typically benefiting from contracted cash flows, inflation
protection and conservative leverage profiles. PINT targets assets
which have strong sustainability credentials, which include
projects that support the transition to a low‑carbon economy. The Portfolio focuses on assets
benefiting from long‑term secular tailwinds. The Company is
overseen by an independent Board of non‑executive Directors and managed by Pantheon Ventures
(UK) LLP ('Pantheon' or the 'Investment Manager'), a leading
multi-strategy investment manager in infrastructure and
real assets, private equity, private debt and real estate.
Highlights
At a glance as at 31
December 2023
£487m1
Capital committed
£504m
Net asset value (NAV)
4p per
share
Total dividends2
£397m
Market cap
106.6p
NAV per share
10.4%
NAV Total Return
1. This refers to the investment fair values or
amounts committed as of 31 December 2023. Invested assets represent
those that have reached financial close and have been, or are in
the process of, being funded, and may include amounts reserved for
follow‑on investments; and committed assets
represent those which are announced and are subject to final
financial close; and in legal closing assets represent those which
are not yet announced but are in the final stages of legal closing.
As at 31 December 2023, £471.7 million was invested and
£15.7 million was committed across 13 assets.
2. Total dividends declared in relation to the year
ended 31 December 2023.
Why invest in pint
The Company is
building a global portfolio of investments with blended risk/return
profiles, in line with targets across deal types, sectors
and geographies for diversification.
1. Unique access to
private infrastructure co‑investment
assets
Pantheon,
PINT's Investment Manager, has a large and global
infrastructure network
PINT invests in infrastructure assets via
co‑investments alongside highly experienced
general partner sponsors ('Sponsors'), typically without additional
management fees or carried interest leakage.
This is attractive for several reasons,
including:
Unique
opportunities
PINT provides investors with the opportunity to access
Pantheon's substantial deal flow from its extensive network
of blue‑chip infrastructure investors.
These opportunities arise because Pantheon's wider infrastructure
platform invests directly into Sponsors' funds and secondary
transactions. As a trusted investor of scale, Pantheon then gains
access to Sponsors' co‑investment deal
flow.
Liquid access to
illiquid markets
There are fewer public market infrastructure
opportunities to access private infrastructure assets,
as infrastructure companies often remain private for long
periods of time and are structured in longer-term vehicles, which
are aimed at institutional investors only. Investing in PINT
provides immediate access to high‑quality
co‑investment infrastructure assets not
normally accessible to public market investors more broadly, both
institutional and retail.
Portfolio
construction
Pantheon uses co‑investments
to select individual assets to gain exposure to, and tilt the
Portfolio, within the parameters of PINT's investment policy,
towards sectors based on the Investment Manager's view on relative
value. This leads to the creation of a global and diversified
portfolio, with the ability to focus on major investment and
economic tailwinds.
Cost-effective
access
The use of co‑investments can
reduce the overall expense ratio and gross‑to‑net performance spread of a
portfolio, as most deals are offered with no ongoing management fee
or carried interest charged by the Sponsor.
Sponsor specialisation
Pantheon, on behalf of PINT, is able to choose deals
alongside a Sponsor with a distinct edge who may be best placed to
create value in that particular sub‑sector.
ESG
Through the Investment Manager, PINT looks to partner
with Sponsors that have demonstrated strong capabilities in
managing ESG risks and will actively engage with the Investment
Manager where it identifies areas of concern. Pantheon has
developed a bespoke ESG due diligence process, which utilises an
in-house tool (an ESG scorecard) in addition to consultation
with an external ESG specialist, which utilises a range of
different data ESG sources. For more information, please refer
to the ESG section below and on pages 58-62 of the full Annual
Report and Accounts.
Infrastructure assets
combine a range of attractive characteristics for long‑term investors. Distinctively, infrastructure may
mitigate the adverse effects of rising inflation and may provide an
income‑generating investment outside of
traditional fixed income.
2. Favourable
defensive long‑term
characteristics
Infrastructure assets can offer reliable
income streams with inflation protection
Infrastructure assets may provide embedded value and
downside protection across market cycles given the regulated and
contracted nature of many of the underlying cash flows.
Infrastructure assets may provide a range of
attractive investment attributes, including the following:
Stable cash flow
profile
Infrastructure may provide a compelling, stable
distribution profile similar to traditional fixed income, but
backed by tangible assets. Infrastructure assets often offer
reliable income streams governed by regulation, hedges or
long‑term contracts with reputable
counterparties.
Inflation
hedge
Infrastructure investments can provide a natural hedge
to rising inflation, as many sub‑sectors
have contracts with explicit inflation linkage or implicit
protection through regulation or market position. The majority of
PINT's assets benefit from such protection.
Embedded downside
protection
The vital role that many infrastructure
sub‑sectors play in our daily lives
can make them an innately defensive investment. The tangible nature
of infrastructure investments can provide a basis for liquidation
and recovery value in downside cases. Furthermore, infrastructure
investing is generally focused on gaining exposure to assets in a
monopolistic or oligopolistic market which, with high upfront
costs, can be a barrier to entry for new participants. Investments
typically have long-term contracts with price escalators or
inflation linkage with high‑quality
counterparties, which offer further downside protection. Finally,
high friction costs in certain sectors have been seen to discourage
customers from switching providers, which can provide a stable and
long-term customer base.
Diversification
Infrastructure can be a valuable portfolio diversifier
alongside traditional and alternative investments. Historically,
listed infrastructure returns have been only moderately correlated
to traditional asset classes. The sub‑sectors within the infrastructure universe and the
drivers of such sub‑sector returns tend not
to be correlated with one another.
PINT
continues to develop its diversified portfolio across sectors that
benefit from secular tailwinds.
Pantheon has taken, and continues to take, a
disciplined approach to PINT's strategy to construct a globally
diversified portfolio with exposure across sub‑sectors and geographies, while maintaining the
flexibility to tilt exposures based on opportunities which may
present compelling relative value. The Company has built a global
portfolio of investments with blended risk/return profiles, in line
with targets across deal types, sectors and geographies for
diversification. Please refer to page 39 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts or below for more detail.
3. Access to secular
trends
Digital Infrastructure | 44%
Power & Utilities | 27%
Renewables & Energy Efficiency | 17%
Transport & Logistics | 9%
Net working capital | 3%
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
44%1
Data centres, fibre networks and towers
POWER &
UTILITIES
27%1
Energy utilities, water and
conventional power
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
17%1
Wind, solar, sustainable waste and smart
infrastructure
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
9%1
Ports, rail and road, airports and e-mobility
1. Proportion of NAV of £504 million at 31 December
2023. Includes assets which, at 31 December 2023, were invested,
committed or in legal closing.
Targeting capital
growth and dividend returns.
The Company seeks to generate attractive
risk‑adjusted total returns for
shareholders over the longer term. This comprises capital
growth with a progressive dividend, through the acquisition of
equity or equity‑related investments in a
diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets with a primary focus
on developed OECD markets.
The Company targets a NAV Total Return per share
of 8‑10% per annum.
4. PINT seeks to
generate attractive risk‑adjusted
returns
£487m
Capital committed
£504m
Net asset value (NAV)
2p per
share
Second interim dividend per share1
1. Second interim dividend of 2p per share declared
in relation to the year ended 31 December 2023. The Company is
paying a total dividend of 4p per share for the year ended
31 December 2023 and, thereafter, is targeting a
progressive dividend.
PINT AT A GLANCE
Thirteen
infrastructure co‑investment
assets1
Geographic
diversification2
Europe 46%
North America 34%
UK 17%
Net working capital 3%
Sector
diversification2
Digital Infrastructure 44%
Power & Utilities 27%
Renewables & Energy Efficiency 17%
Transport & Logistics 9%
Net working capital 3%
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
POWER & UTILITIES
RENEWABLES & ENERGY EFFICIENCY
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
1.Based on assets invested and committed at
31 December 2023.
2.Based on NAV of £504 million at 31 December
2023.
Netherlands
(DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, RENEWABLES & ENERGY
EFFICIENCY)
Delta Fiber
Fudura
United Kingdom
(POWER & UTILITIES, RENEWABLES & ENERGY
EFFICIENCY)
National Gas
Zenobē
Ireland
(DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE)
NBI
North America
(DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE, POWER & UTILITIES)
CyrusOne
Cartier Energy
Calpine
Vantage Data Centers
Vertical Bridge
Spain
(TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS)
Primafrio
Nordic
(DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE)
GlobalConnect
Germany/Austria
(DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE)
GD Towers
CHAIR'S STATEMENT
Investing in
infrastructure has never been so important.
"It is satisfying that the successful period of
deployment has been followed up with strong portfolio
performance."
Vagn
Sørensen
Chair, Pantheon Infrastructure Plc
Introduction
I am pleased to present the annual report for Pantheon
Infrastructure Plc for the year ended 31 December 2023. This is the
second annual report since the Company's launch, and it is pleasing
to see the Company has now fully deployed its funds into a
diversified portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets,
generating dividends in line with, and NAV Total Returns exceeding,
its pre-IPO target.
During the year, the Company's NAV per share grew by
7.8% to 106.6p per share, with earnings per share of 10.4p.
Accounting for dividends of 3p per share paid in the year to
31 December 2023, this represents a NAV Total Return of 10.4%
since 31 December 2022, or 10.7% after adjusting for the positive
NAV impact of share buybacks, which exceeds the pre-IPO target of
an 8-10% NAV Total Return per annum. Naturally, it is satisfying
that the successful period of deployment has been followed up with
strong portfolio performance.
Economic
environment
The reporting period and subsequent months have
continued to be characterised by further economic uncertainty. Most
of the developed economies in which we invest have so far avoided
the recessions that were widely expected in the first half of 2023,
and market sentiment appears to foresee a soft rather than hard
landing. Furthermore, there have been encouraging signs that
central bank interventions have begun to curtail inflation, with
strong indications that we have reached the interest rate peak,
albeit one that policymakers have indicated will endure well into
2024. Nevertheless, the next twelve months will be characterised by
important elections across a number of key market jurisdictions
that might impact the future path of economic growth and interest
rates, and regardless of when they may drop again, it looks likely
that we have entered a new interest rate environment compared to
that we have been in for the past 15 years.
Investor sentiment
and discount management
With increased risk-free rates, some investors have
sought to de-risk their portfolios with a move to the perceived
safety of fixed income. Retail flows throughout the year were
particularly affected by the increased cost of living resulting
from high inflation and significantly higher mortgage servicing
costs, which reduced the levels of surplus cash available for
savings and investment.
In this environment, demand for the shares of listed
investment trusts as a whole, including the infrastructure sector
and PINT, has been subdued. As at 31 December 2023, PINT's shares
traded at a discount of 21% to NAV, despite the performance and
valuations of the underlying assets being robust.
We continue to believe that any share price discount
to NAV is unjustified, as an investment in PINT offers a meaningful
asset-backed yield, as well as capital growth and inflation
protection that cannot be achieved by investment in a fixed income
alternative. The Portfolio continues to perform robustly to varying
economic and project-specific assumptions, including inflation,
interest rates and valuation discount rates, as evidenced by the
sensitivity analysis set out in the Investment Manager's report
below and on page 35 of the full Annual Report and Accounts. As
this demonstrates, portfolio diversification means the Company does
not carry material exposure to any single sector-specific risk.
The Board continues to focus on the current level of
discount and the impact it has on Shareholders' reported returns.
Having set out our views relating to discounts prior to the launch
of the Company, we were quick to react as the discount widened. On
31 March 2023, the Board announced the commencement of
a programme to buy back shares up to a total consideration of
£10 million.
£487 million of
assets invested or committed1
4p per share total
dividends declared for the year
1. This refers to the capital committed to assets
which were invested, committed and in legal closing at 31 December
2023.
As at 31 December 2023, the Company had repurchased
7.4 million shares for a total consideration of £5.8 million,
resulting in a NAV increase of 0.3p per share. Since that date, the
Company has repurchased a further 3.1 million shares for a
consideration of £2.6 million, resulting in a NAV increase of 0.1p
per share. In total, the Company has now repurchased 10.5 million
shares for £8.4 million since the buyback programme was
announced.
Despite the positive NAV impact of the buyback
programme, the Board remains acutely aware of the continued
discount to NAV at which the Company still trades, and continues to
believe that share buybacks represent an attractive use of
shareholders' capital where surplus means are available.
Accordingly, the Board can confirm that an additional £8.4 million
has been allocated for further share buybacks, to restore the total
remaining programme commitment to £10 million. The Board will
continue to regularly monitor the Company's approach to buybacks in
consideration of the prevailing share price discount to NAV and the
Company's available liquidity.
Portfolio deployment
and performance
As at 31 December 2023, the Company had invested in or
committed to 13 assets totalling £487 million. The Company
announced three new investments during the year totalling
£96 million: European towers business, GD Towers, Nordic fibre
operator, GlobalConnect, and UK-based battery storage and
electric bus fleet specialist, Zenobē.
When considered alongside the total amounts deployed
to and committed under the ongoing share buyback programme, the
Company has now fully deployed its net IPO and subscription share
proceeds. Whilst this clearly represents a major success for the
Company and its shareholders, importantly it has been followed up
with a period of strong performance across the Portfolio, with fair
valuation gains translating to a higher NAV Total Return for the
period versus the pre-IPO target.
The Company declared dividends totalling 4p per share
in relation to the year to 31 December 2023, and remains committed
to paying a progressive dividend, commencing with the first interim
dividend for 2024. The Board is considering the dividend level for
the current financial year and will announce the level of the first
interim dividend in due course.
With all this considered, an investment into PINT
continues to give an immediate exposure to a high‑quality, established and highly diversified portfolio.
Further details of the Portfolio Companies and their
diversification can be found in the Investment Manager's report
below and on page 12 of the full Annual Report and Accounts.
Revolving credit
facility
The Board was pleased to announce on 7 June 2023 a
£52.5 million increase to its existing £62.5 million
multi‑currency revolving credit facility
(RCF), bringing the total to £115 million. In addition, after the
year end the Company extended the term of the RCF by 15 months,
effectively resetting the tenor at three years with the same
pricing and terms.
The increase and extension to the RCF provide the
Company with an enduring and flexible way to cover its risk buffers
and working capital needs. It also gives us additional liquidity to
increase diversification through further investment in
high‑quality infrastructure assets from
PINT's near-term investment pipeline, where we continue to see
compelling opportunities. However, such investment will only be
considered where it is materially accretive to shareholders in
light of the current cost of such borrowings, and providing that
the Company would not, as a result, become inappropriately levered
or the facility to be fully drawn.
Oversight of the
investment process and strategy
Investment management is delegated to Pantheon by the
Board. Pantheon is responsible for reviewing, selecting and
executing investment opportunities for the Company. However, it is
a vital part of the Board's responsibilities to oversee these
activities, to ensure the investment process is robust, and that
the investments made are consistent with the aims, objectives and
investment strategy of the Company.
To that end, the Board was delighted to join members
of Pantheon's team on a site visit to Primafrio's Head Office and
major distribution centre in Murcia, Spain, in June 2023. Primafrio
was the Company's first investment commitment, announced a few
months after our launch, and it was very pleasing to see the
progress that it continues to make in the development of existing
and new distribution centres and logistics infrastructure.
The Board, the Investment Manager and our corporate
brokers, Investec, met with senior representatives from both
Primafrio and Apollo, the Sponsor partner on the transaction. The
visit provided the Board with valuable insight into, and assurance
regarding, the Investment Manager's robust investment and
underwriting processes, the strength of relationships with
Sponsors, and an example of the access to the management teams of
the Company's underlying assets accorded to the Investment Manager.
The Board was delighted to be able to extend this visibility
to shareholders when hosting the Company's inaugural capital
markets day in November, covering key topics including market
outlook, Portfolio overview and introducing some of Pantheon's key
Sponsor relationships. We look forward to hosting more of these
events in the future and welcome any suggestions on future
content.
Through our oversight, such as the Primafrio site
visit and regular meetings with the Investment Manager, the Board
maintains comfort in the investment process and the quality of the
Company's portfolio. As evidenced by the continued NAV growth,
these businesses are in aggregate operating solidly and executing
in line with the business plans on which our investments
were based.
Strategy
As it has done since launch, the Company seeks to
generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by constructing a
diversified portfolio of high-quality assets across the global
infrastructure investment universe. The Company focuses on assets
that offer downside and inflation protection, which is particularly
relevant in the current market environment. Leveraging Pantheon's
extensive 14-year experience in infrastructure investing and its
c.$22 billion infrastructure platform, PINT targets specific
transactions that Pantheon deems to be most attractive, notably
opportunities in businesses with strong operations and growth
potential, in sub‑sectors benefiting from
long-term positive trends and managed by high-quality Sponsors. I
am delighted that this approach to investment is now evident in the
Portfolio that the Company has assembled through the opportunities
provided by Pantheon.
Governance and
sustainability
The Board takes its responsibilities to its
shareholders, in accordance with good governance standards, very
seriously, and we continually strive to improve our oversight of
the Company and its transparency. During the period, we have had a
particular focus on ESG matters and sustainability.
To ensure sufficient focus on these matters, we have
formally created a new ESG & Sustainability Committee, which is
chaired by Ms Finegan. Ms Finegan has been a non‑executive Director of the Company since its launch and
is an experienced infrastructure asset management professional with
over 30 years of sector experience, performing a number of other
board and advisory roles with an emphasis on ESG outcomes.
PINT's ESG & Sustainability Committee has
responsibility for: agreeing, overseeing and monitoring the
Company's ESG strategy; its ESG reporting and disclosure; its ESG
risk management (alongside the Audit and Risk Committee); and
ensuring effective stakeholder engagement.
Under the oversight of this committee, the Company
published its inaugural sustainability report on
19 September 2023, providing (among other things)
further insight into the sustainability characteristics of
PINT's portfolio and relevant emissions data. The full
report can be found on the Company's website:
www.pantheoninfrastructure.com and a summary of
the information can be found below and on page 58 of the
full Annual Report and Accounts.
Shareholder
engagement
A major part of the Board's purpose is to represent
the interests, needs and wishes of the Company's shareholders. We
are committed to maintaining open channels of communication and to
engaging with shareholders in a manner which they find most
meaningful, in order to gain an understanding of their
views.
Shareholder meetings take place throughout the year
with the Investment Manager, but as Chair I believe it is vitally
important for the Board and I to hear views first hand. Throughout
the year, the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and I offered
meetings to a significant number of shareholders representing a
majority of the share register by issued share capital. Several of
them accepted our offer and we met with investors representing more
than one‑fifth of the register.
Feedback from these meetings was overall very
positive, and the engagement from the Board was well received.
Naturally, shareholders were keen to see continued improvement and
we have endeavoured to respond to many of the issues raised, such
as: the share price discount to NAV (we have announced a programme
of buybacks); providing confidence in valuations (we have continued
to disclose valuation sensitivities); and improved ESG and climate
disclosures (we have since published our sustainability
report).
The Board always welcomes contact with shareholders,
so if there are matters you wish to raise with us or if you would
like a meeting, please feel free to contact us at the registered
office or via the Company Secretary using the details below or on
page 140 of the full Annual Report and Accounts.
Outlook
Infrastructure remains a key driver of economic
growth, and therefore the need for investment into new
infrastructure is arguably stronger than ever. Indeed, in the
current environment, private investment is especially needed, and
we believe will be ultimately rewarded, at a time where governments
are facing significant budget deficits and rising debt levels.
The last six months or so have seen an even greater
international focus on decarbonisation. According to the World
Meteorological Organization, 2023 was the warmest year on record,
and the annual average global temperature approached 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels. The road to net zero globally requires
sustained and extraordinary investment in new infrastructure.
Private infrastructure has demonstrated a necessary role in filling
that gap, and we believe it will continue to play an important part
in funding global infrastructure investments.
The market for infrastructure investment remains
competitive, and despite some recent signs of recovery, fundraising
in private markets was challenging in 2023. PINT's strategy
continues to be to identify and target companies that are set to
benefit from key sectoral tailwinds, whilst exhibiting defensive
characteristics and delivering growth in real terms across the
economic cycle. Pantheon's wide capability to source new
investments through its vast network and established partnerships,
as demonstrated since PINT's launch, is all the more crucial in
current market conditions. The Board remains optimistic about
PINT's future investment opportunities and value creation
potential.
With this in mind, and as already stated, we believe
that the current level of discount is unjustified, and represents a
compelling value opportunity for those seeking to invest into a
fully deployed and diversified portfolio of high-quality
infrastructure assets.
Currently, it appears that much of the market is
focusing purely on yield from gilts and bonds without considering
prospects for capital appreciation. We continue to believe
that PINT's strategy means it is well positioned for when investors
again start to recognise the importance of growth potential in a
well-balanced investment strategy, and have been further encouraged
by the increased awareness relating to the ongoing cost disclosures
issues affecting AIFMs, which may in time provide further buying
stimulus in a market showing signs of recovery. The Board is
confident of the Manager's ability to continue to source new assets
and to manage the existing portfolio to deliver that growth. We
also believe that infrastructure assets will provide much-needed
resilience in the current uncertain world.
Board
composition
It is now over two years since the Company's launch,
and as Chair I have had no issues in committing the necessary time
to oversee the Company alongside my other non-executive roles.
Nevertheless, mindful of the perception, if not the reality, of my
capacity to act as Chair, I intend to step-down at the Company's
annual general meeting in 2025. It has been an extremely enjoyable
experience to serve as Chair during such an exciting period for the
Company, and I look forward to supporting the rest of the Board in
the process to appoint my successor in the coming months, which
will be led by our Senior Independent Director (SID), Ms
Baldock.
Vagn
Sørensen
Chair
2 April 2024
PINT INVESTMENTS
EXISTING PORTFOLIO
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
Primafrio
Specialised temperature‑controlled transportation and logistics company in
Europe primarily focused on the export of fresh fruit and
vegetables from Iberia to Northern Europe.
Sector:
Transport & Logistics
Geography:
Europe
Sponsor:
Apollo
Website:
www.primafrio.com
Date of
commitment:
21.03.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£47m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Niche market leader providing
an essential service to resilient end markets. The company has
demonstrated strong organic growth over a 15+ year operating
history, including during major economic dislocations
(2008‑2009 global financial crisis and
2020‑2021 Covid-19). The essential
nature of Primafrio's market and its operations provide strong
downside protection.
· Value creation opportunities
include inorganic growth, strategic M&A, and continued
investment in Primafrio's cold storage logistics infrastructure
footprint.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
CyrusOne
Operates more than 50 high‑performance data centres representing more than four
million sq ft of capacity across North America and Europe.
Sector:
Digital: Data Centre
Geography:
North America
Sponsor:
KKR
Website:
www.cyrusone.com
Date of
commitment:
28.03.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£27m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Growth in data usage continues
to drive data centre demand. In particular, the hyperscale
segment represents a strong growth opportunity due to increasing
cloud adoption and increasingly data‑heavy
technologies (5G, AI, gaming, video streaming).
· Benefits from defensive
characteristics such as long‑term contracts
with a largely investment grade credit quality customer base, price
escalators and limited historical customer churn.
POWER &
UTILITIES
National
Gas
The owner and operator of the UK's sole gas
transmission network, regulated by Ofgem, and an independent,
highly contracted metering business.
Sector:
Power & Utilities: Gas Utility and Metering
Geography:
UK
Sponsor:
Macquarie
Website:
www.nationalgas.com
Date of
commitment:
28.03.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£47m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Stable inflation‑linked cash flows with returns positively correlated
to inflation, supported by tailwinds of the current macroeconomic
environment.
· Strong downside protection;
regulatory framework allows for the recovery of costs and a minimum
return on capital. The company also holds a monopolistic position
through sole ownership of the UK's gas transmission network.
· Significant growth
opportunity. The transmission system will play a leading role in
making the network ready for any future transition from natural gas
to hydrogen. It will support the expansion of hydrogen's role in
the energy mix while working closely with the government and Ofgem
to maintain security of supply.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to 'Disclosure 1 -
Investments' towards the back of this announcement.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Vertical
Bridge
The largest private owner and operator of towers and
other wireless infrastructure in the US, with more than 7,000 owned
towers across the country.
Sector:
Digital: Towers
Geography:
North America
Sponsor:
DigitalBridge
Website:
www.verticalbridge.com
Date of
commitment:
04.04.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£27m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Track record of organic and
inorganic growth: since its founding in 2014, Vertical Bridge has
been one of the most active acquirers and 'build‑to‑suit' developers amongst
tower companies, and expects to further accelerate these
activities.
· 5G
build-out supporting continued growth: US carrier annual capex is
forecast to increase by over 30% by 2025, prioritising macro towers
in the 5G rollout.
· Top‑tier management team and Sponsor: key members of
Vertical Bridge and DigitalBridge (including both CEOs) have
worked together since 2003, and have exceeded the original Vertical
Bridge business plan.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Delta
Fiber
Owner and operator of fixed telecom infrastructure in
the Netherlands, providing broadband, TV, telephone and mobile
services to retail and wholesale customers over a predominantly
fibre network.
Sector:
Digital: Fibre
Geography:
Europe
Sponsor:
Stonepeak
Website:
www.deltafibernederland.nl
Date of
commitment:
26.04.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£25m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Opportunity to invest in
high-quality fibre network with high barriers to entry as a
regional leader in its core footprint of suburban and rural areas
with historically high penetration and low churn rates.
· Well
positioned to capitalise on extensive rollout programme via first
mover advantage in its core markets, exhibited through its track
record of fast build rates and ramp up of construction
capacity.
POWER &
UTILITIES
Cartier
Energy
Platform of eight district energy systems located
across the Northeast, Mid‑Atlantic and
Midwest of the US.
Sector:
Power & Utilities: District Heating
Geography:
North America
Sponsor:
Vauban
Website:
Not available
Date of
commitment:
23.05.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£31m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Gross margin structure
underpinned by availability‑based fixed
capacity payments and consumption charges, and pass‑through pricing mechanism limits commodity price
exposure providing robust downside protection.
· 'Sticky' customer base with an
average relationship tenure of ~15‑20 years
and ~10‑12-year average remaining
contractual life.
· Provides customers with a path
to decarbonisation and increased thermal efficiency.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to 'Disclosure 1 -
Investments' towards the back of this announcement.
POWER &
UTILITIES
Calpine
Independent power producer with c.26GW of principally
gas-fired generating capacity, including c.770MW of operational
renewables.
Sector:
Power & Utilities: Electricity Generation
Geography:
North America
Sponsor:
ECP
Website:
www.calpine.com
Date of
commitment:
27.06.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£56m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Vital supplier
to the US electricity grid, providing reliable power generation
capacity and playing an important role in the energy transition as
the US targets net zero carbon by 2050. Calpine benefits from
highly predictable diversified cash flows underpinned by contracts
supported by a robust hedging programme.
· Strong renewables development
pipeline of solar and battery storage projects, financeable through
the cash flows generated by existing assets, which are projected to
nearly triple its renewables power generation capacity over the
next five to six years.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
Vantage Data
Centers
Leading provider of wholesale data centre
infrastructure to large enterprises and hyperscale cloud
providers.
Sector:
Digital: Data Centre
Geography:
North America
Sponsor:
DigitalBridge
Website:
www.vantage-dc.com
Date of
commitment:
01.07.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£26m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Secular data usage growth
through increasing cloud adoption and increasing
data‑heavy technologies continues to drive
data centre demand.
· Strong growth pipeline from
favourable existing relationships with hyperscale customers.
· Downside
protection from strong position in supply‑constrained core geographies, long‑term contracts with investment‑grade counterparties, and low churn due to high
switching costs and barriers to entry.
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Fudura
Dutch market-leading owner and provider of
medium‑voltage electricity infrastructure
to business customers, with a focus on transformers, metering
devices and related data services.
Sector:
Renewables & Energy Efficiency
Geography:
Europe
Sponsor:
DIF
Website:
www.fudura.nl
Date of
commitment:
25.07.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£46m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Highly stable
inflation‑linked cash flows from large and
diversified locked‑in customer base with
long-term contracts, low churn and inflation protection.
· Strong downside protection
with a quasi‑monopoly positioning in its
core regional markets characterised by high barriers
to entry.
· Energy efficiency and
decarbonisation tailwinds driving growth opportunities to broaden
service offering to customers including EV charging, solar panels,
heat pumps and battery storage.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to 'Disclosure 1 -
Investments' towards the back of this announcement.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
National Broadband
Ireland ("NBI")
Fibre-to-the-premises network developer and operator
working with the Irish Government to support the rollout of the
National Broadband Plan, targeting connection to 560,000 rural
homes.
Sector:
Digital: Fibre
Geography:
Ireland
Sponsor:
Asterion
Website:
www.nbi.ie
Date of
commitment:
09.11.2022
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£47m
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Stable cash flows with
inflation protection expected through the terms of the project
agreement and the prices NBI can charge to internet service
providers for access.
· Downside protection through a
unique positioning in the intervention area (the franchise area
granted by the Irish Government) and a flexible government subsidy
regime.
· Attractive macro trends
including increased remote working, demographics and growth in
fibre broadband take‑up to date underpin
the long‑term commercial viability of the
network.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to 'Disclosure 1 -
Investments' towards the back of this announcement.
PINT INVESTMENTS
NEW INVESTMENTS
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
GD Towers
Largest tower operator and telecom infrastructure
network in Western Europe with c.40,000 tower sites across Germany
and Austria.
Sector:
Digital: Towers
Geography:
Europe
Sponsor:
DigitalBridge
Website:
Not available
Date of
commitment:
31.01.2023
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£38m
Transaction/company
overview
· In
Q3 2022, DigitalBridge, alongside Brookfield Asset Management,
agreed to buy 51% of GD Towers from Deutsche Telekom for a total
enterprise value of €17.5 billion, with PINT investing as part
of the subsequent co-investment syndication process.
· GD
Towers has one of the largest tower and telecom infrastructure
networks in Western Europe with c.40,000 tower sites across Germany
and Austria, making it the market leader in Germany and second
largest in Austria.
· GD
Towers' high-quality portfolio is supported by an anchor tenancy
agreement with Deutsche Telekom, which has retained a 49%
ownership stake in GD Towers.
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Majority of cash flows are
contracted and index-linked, offering strong downside protection in
challenging macroeconomic conditions.
· Favourable market tailwinds
from regulatory‑driven 5G coverage
requirements with significant growth opportunities.
· Organic and inorganic growth
opportunities arising from other market participants, and numerous
consolidation opportunities in Europe.
ESG2
· Deutsche Telekom AG has a net
zero carbon strategy that is aligned with the Science Based Targets
initiative (SBTi) and has been highly rated by the Carbon
Disclosure Project.
· The
majority of power for the tower sites now comes from renewable
sources, with carbon offsetting arrangements in place for any
fossil fuel power consumption.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to 'Disclosure 1 -
Investments' towards the back of this announcement.
2. Source: ERM. While DigitalBridge may consider ESG
factors when making an investment decision, DigitalBridge does not
pursue an ESG-based investment strategy or limit its investments to
those that meet specific ESG criteria or standards. Any reference
herein to environmental or social considerations is not intended to
qualify DigitalBridge's duty to maximise risk-adjusted returns.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
GlobalConnect
Leading pan-Nordic wholesale and retail telecoms
business with extensive fibre network and data
centre portfolio.
Sector:
Digital: Fibre
Geography:
Europe
Sponsor:
EQT
Website:
https://www.globalconnectgroup.com
Date of
commitment:
22.06.2023
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£20m
Transaction/company
overview
· In
Q4 2022, EQT Infrastructure III announced the sale of a minority
stake (15%) of its shareholding in GlobalConnect (GC) to Mubadala.
PINT invested alongside other co‑investors
following this transaction, while EQT retained a majority
(controlling) stake.
· GC
is a pan-Nordic digital infrastructure platform with a 155,000 km
fibre network and 17 (35,000 m²) data centres.
· GC
is a leading challenger and is well positioned to increase its
market share across verticals and geographies given its
blue‑chip customer base, one-stop-shop
solution and high barriers to entry.
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Majority of
cash flows are contracted and index‑linked,
offering downside protection in challenging macroeconomic
conditions.
· Favourable market tailwinds
from regulatory-driven 5G coverage requirements with significant
growth opportunities and long‑term secured
revenues, protecting its market position.
· Organic and inorganic growth
opportunities arising from rural fibre rollout, growing demand for
larger bandwidth and numerous consolidation opportunities.
ESG
· In June 2023,
GC was approved by the SBTi, committing to reducing its absolute
carbon emissions by 42% by 2030.
· In
2022, GC raised €1 billion in ESG-linked financing and recently won
an award for the sustainability-linked loan of the year
in Europe.
· Its
sustainable data centres, powered by 100% green energy, are
achieving ~25% lower power usage than the European average.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to 'Disclosure 1 -
Investments' towards the back of this announcement.
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Zenobē
Zenobē provides essential infrastructure that
contributes to international power and transport sector
decarbonisation targets.
Sector:
Renewables & Energy Efficiency
Geography:
UK
Sponsor:
Infracapital
Website:
www.Zenobe.com
Date of
commitment:
07.09.2023
PINT NAV 31 December
2023:
£33m
Transaction/company
overview
· Co-investment alongside
Infracapital in their 2023 equity raise to support Zenobē's
business plan growth. Infracapital retained a co-control stake
alongside a new investor (KKR), forming a strategic partnership to
support Zenobē's expansion into North America, Europe and
Australasia.
· Zenobē develops, finances,
owns and operates electric buses and transmission grid-scale
batteries, providing turnkey service offerings to its
customers.
· Since Infracapital's initial
investment in 2020, Zenobē has grown to establish itself as a
market leader at the forefront of these increasingly important
industries in UK, Benelux, Australia and New Zealand.
Investment thesis and
value creation strategy1
· Substantial and growing market
opportunity driven by significant capex required to meet demand for
EV charging and electricity grid stability.
· Market leader in core regions
in a high-growth sector with attractive expansion
opportunities.
· Downside protection and
inflation protection via long‑term
availability-style contracts with high-quality counterparties.
ESG2
· In
addition to providing electrification solutions for vehicle fleet
owners, Zenobē's batteries help balance the supply of renewable
energy to the grid.
· By
financing, designing, building and operating battery systems,
Zenobē is accelerating the switch to electric vehicles and
maximising the uptake of renewable energy.
· Zenobē has committed to net
zero value chain carbon emissions by 2050 and was awarded the
IJGlobal ESG Award for Europe 2023.
1. There is no guarantee that the investment thesis
will be achieved. Pantheon opinion. Past performance is not
indicative of future results. Future results are not guaranteed,
and loss of principal may occur. Please refer to the slide titled
'Disclosure 1 - Investments' towards the back of this
announcement.
2. Source: Infracapital and Zenobē. The information
herein has been compiled by Pantheon based on information supplied
to it by Infracapital and Zenobē. For the avoidance of doubt,
Pantheon is not acting on behalf of Infracapital in communicating
any information set out herein.
PINT TIMELINE
November
2021
Raised £400m gross IPO proceeds
March 2022
Commitment of to $47.6m Primafrio - European transport
& logistics business
Commitment of $32.3m to CyrusOne - North American data
centre business
Commitment of £39.6m to National Gas - UK regulated
gas transmission network and metering business
April 2022
Commitment of €28.4m to Delta Fiber - Dutch fibre
company
Commitment of $30.2m to Vertical Bridge -
US towers company
May 2022
Commitment of $41.4m to Cartier Energy - US
district energy platform
June 2022
Commitment of $55.4m to Calpine - US power generation
business
July 2022
Commitment of $33.2m to Vantage Data Centers - North
American data centre business
Commitment of €47.0m to Fudura - Dutch electricity
infrastructure provider
September
2022
Raised £81m of gross proceeds through exercise of
subscriptions shares
October
2022
Paid first interim dividend of
1p per share
November
2022
Commitment of €52.7m to National Broadband Ireland -
Irish digital Infrastructure company
January
2023
Commitment of €47.2m to GD Towers - German and
Austrian towers company
March 2023
Paid second interim dividend of 1p per share
Board announces £10m share buyback programme
June 2023
Agreed £52.5m increase to RCF, bringing total to
£115m
Commitment of €22.0m to GlobalConnect - Nordic fibre
networks company
September
2023
Commitment of £35m to Zenobē - UK battery storage and
electric bus fleet specialist
Declared first interim dividend for 2023 of 2p per
share, paid on 27 October 2023
November
2023
PINT hosts maiden capital markets day
March 2024
Agreed extension to existing £115m RCF, resetting
maturity to March 2027
Declared second interim dividend for 2023 of 2p per
share, payable on 23 April 2024
INVESTMENT MANAGER'S REPORT
Founded in 1982,
Pantheon has established itself as a leading global
multi‑strategy investor in private equity,
infrastructure and real assets, private debt and
real estate.
Pantheon's
infrastructure experience
Since 2009, Pantheon has completed 218 infrastructure
investments across primaries, secondaries and co‑investments alongside more than 58 asset sourcing
partners, solidifying its position as one of the largest managers
investing in infrastructure. Total infrastructure co-investment and
Sponsor relationships exceeded 50 as of December 2023,
including investments closed or in legal closing. The global
infrastructure investment team managed c. $22 billion in AUM as at
30 September 2023.
Pantheon
platform
128
Investment professionals
$95bn1
Funds under management
>1,000
Institutional investors globally
13
Global offices
Pantheon private
infrastructure
$22bn1
AUM
218
Investments
33
Investment professionals
22
years
Average years' experience of Investment Committee
Pantheon private
infrastructure co-investments
$4bn
Total commitments
52
Total investments
58+
Asset sourcing partners
13.2%
Notional net IRR2
1. As at 30 September 2023. This figure includes
assets subject to discretionary or non-discretionary management or
advice. Infrastructure AUM includes all infrastructure and real
asset programmes which have an allocation to
natural resources.
2. Performance data as of 30 September 2023. Past
performance is not indicative of future results. Future performance
is not guaranteed and a loss of principal may occur. Performance
data includes all infrastructure co‑investments approved by Pantheon's Global
Infrastructure and Real Assets Committee (GIRAC) since 2015, when
Pantheon established its infrastructure co-investment strategy.
Notional net performance is based on an average forecast annualised
fee of 1.5% of NAV.
Pantheon has extensive experience of and expertise in
primary, secondary and co-investments, which are defined
as follows:
·
primary investments: involve a commitment to a newly launched
limited life fund managed by a Sponsor, seeking to exit improved
businesses in the later years of the fund term
at a profit;
·
secondary investments: traditionally involve the purchase of an
interest in an established private fund or a portfolio of companies
from an existing investor; and
·
co-investments: afford the opportunity for investors to invest
alongside Sponsors in specific Portfolio Companies, typically
on a fee and carried interest‑free
basis.
PINT focuses on gaining exposure to infrastructure
assets via co‑investments.
Pantheon primary
funds strategy
AUM in
primary commitments since 20091
$10bn
· Pantheon
develops long‑term relationships with top
tier Sponsors by investing in their underlying
flagship funds.
· Sponsors
consider Pantheon to be a strategic partner, rather than a
direct competitor.
Sponsors require
co‑investment partner
Co‑investment
opportunities screened since 20152
$88bn
Sponsors may offer co‑investments for the following reasons:
·
size of transaction;
·
manage concentration limits;
·
raise follow‑on capital; and
·
strengthen investor relationships.
Pantheon
co‑investment strategy
Committed
across 52 co‑investment assets
$4bn
Committed across 52 co‑investment assets3
·
Access to co‑investment assets, typically
on a no-fee, no‑carry basis.
·
Proven track record as a valuable partner by providing experience
in complex deals; speed and certainty of deal execution within
short time frames.
·
Co-investment track record has produced notional net IRR to date
of 13.2%4.
1. As at 30 September 2023. This figure includes
assets subject to discretionary or non-discretionary management or
advice. Infrastructure AUM includes all infrastructure and real
asset programmes which have an allocation to
natural resources.
2. Pantheon internal data from 2015 to December 2023.
Screened deal flow is based on total value of transactions ($).
3. Total infrastructure co-investment count and
committed amount as of December 2023, includes all Pantheon
infrastructure co-investments closed or in legal closing.
4. Performance data as of 30 September 2023.
Performance data includes all consummated infrastructure
co-investments approved by GIRAC since 2015, when Pantheon
established its infrastructure co-investment strategy.
PORTFOLIO
PINT is constructing a diversified global portfolio
with a focus on developed market OECD countries, with the majority
of exposure in Western Europe and North America. Over the medium
term, the Investment Manager expects, in line with the initial
prospectus, the composition of the Portfolio to include investments
in the following sub‑sectors:
Digital Infrastructure, Power & Utilities, Transport &
Logistics, Renewables & Energy Efficiency and Social
& Other Infrastructure.
In the year to 31 December 2023, the Company announced
three further investments, amounting to £96 million, with a total
of £487 million now invested or committed across 13
investments.
The Portfolio assembled is diversified across sectors
and geographies, and the Investment Manager believes that it is
well positioned to withstand any external market challenges. The
investments typically benefit from defensive characteristics
including long-term contracted cash flows, inflation protection and
robust capital structures.
Seven investments are in Digital Infrastructure,
representing 44% of NAV, across the data centre, towers and fibre
sub‑sectors. Three investments,
representing 27%, are in the Power & Utilities sector
including: gas transmission, district heating and electricity
generation. Two investments are in Renewables & Energy
Efficiency (17%) and the remaining investment is in Transport &
Logistics (9%). The largest geographical exposure is in Europe
(46%), with the remaining exposure in North America (34%) and the
UK (17%). Net working capital reflects 3% of NAV.
NAV pence per share
movement (Year to 31 December 2023)
NAV increased over the year by 7.7p per share (period
to 31 December 2022: 0.9p per share), after adjusting for the
dividends paid of 3.0p per share over the year (period to 31
December 2022: 1.0p per share). The movement in the year was
principally driven by fair value gains of 12.0p per share (period
to 31 December 2022: 2.0p per share), partially offset by foreign
exchange movements of (3.0)p per share (period to 31 December 2022:
2.1p per share), attributable to the weakening of both EUR and USD
during the year, which was partially offset by a 2.6p per share
movement from the foreign exchange hedging programme (period to
31 December 2022: (1.8)p per share). Interest on cash deposits
contributed 0.7p per share (period to 31 December 2022: 0.4p per
share), and share buybacks contributed 0.3p per share (period to
31 December 2022: nil), with a reduction of (1.9)p per share
(period to 31 December 2022: (1.0)p per share) related to fund
operating and financing expenses, resulting in a closing NAV of
106.6p per share. This excludes the impact of the second interim
dividend of 2.0p per share, which is to be paid on
23 April 2024.
Nav Pence Per Share
Movement
31 December 2022 - 98.9p
Fair value gains - 12.0p
Foreign exchange movement - (3.0)p
Foreign exchange hedge - 2.6p
Finance income - 0.7p
Expenses1 - (1.9)p
Share buybacks - 0.3p
Dividends paid (3.0)p
31 December 2023 - 106.6p
1. Expenses include operating and capital
expenses.
PORTFOLIO IN
NUMBERS1
Exposure
to operational infrastructure assets
POWER &
UTILITIES
26GW
of electric generation capacity, including 729MW
of renewables, generating 111TWh annually
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
67,000
smart meters helping to reduce domestic energy
bills
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
1,444,000
homes connected to high speed fibre
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
94
data centres providing 1,440MW of power capacity
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
1,000
electric buses supported, saving 66,000 tonnes of
CO2 annually
POWER &
UTILITIES
8
district heating networks, with 96 km of piping
serving 190 buildings
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
17,200
medium and high voltage transformers
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
416,000 km
of fibre cable, passing
2.9 million homes
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
2,500
temperature controlled trucks and 40,000 m²
of temperature controlled warehouse capacity
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
51,000
telecom towers
POWER &
UTILITIES
7,630 km
of pressurised gas transmission pipes, 71 gas
compressors and nine gas and LNG terminals
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
1,494MW
of battery energy storage capacity, supporting the
transition to net zero
1. Figures represent the total infrastructure assets
across PINT's Portfolio Companies.
The breakdown of the Company's NAV1 as at
31 December 2023 is shown below by reference to sector and
geography. The breakdowns are shown relative to amounts
invested2 and committed3.
Sector
diversification (as at 31 December 2023)4
Outer ring: total (invested2 +
committed3)
Inner ring: invested and committed breakdown
Digital
Infrastructure | 43.9%
Invested | 41.8%
Committed | 2.1%
Power & Utilities
| 26.7%
Invested | 26.7%
Committed | 0.0%
Renewables &
Energy Efficiency | 16.6%
Invested | 15.7%
Committed | 0.9%
Transport &
Logistics | 9.4%
Invested | 9.3%
Committed | 0.1%
Net Working Capital |
3.3%
Geographic
diversification (as at 31 December 2023)4
Outer ring: total (invested + committed)
Inner ring: invested2 and committed3
breakdown
Europe |
46.1%
Invested | 44.4%
Committed | 1.8%
North America |
34.0%
Invested | 33.2%
Committed | 0.8%
UK | 16.6%
Invested | 16.0%
Committed | 0.6%
Net Working Capital |
3.3%
1. Based on NAV of £504 million at 31 December
2023.
2. Invested amounts at 31 December 2023 totalled
£471.7 million, representing the fair value of the Company's
funded investments in those sectors or geographies.
3. Committed but not yet invested amounts at 31
December 2023 totalled £15.7 million, representing cash held
in respect of as yet undrawn commitments and/or deals in legal
closing in those sectors or geographies. Undrawn commitments are a
feature of the Company's investments and occur when
completions are deferred due to commercial or regulatory approval
processes, or where capital calls are intentionally staggered over
time for follow-on purposes, for example for capex or M&A
requirements.
4. Charts do not add up to 100.0% due to
rounding.
13.6%
Weighted
average discount rate
Weighted average discount rate of 13.6% is based on
the discount rate of each Portfolio Company investment at 31
December 2023, weighted on an investment fair value basis
(excluding undrawn commitments) across all 13 investments.
36%
Weighted
average gearing
Weighted average gearing calculated by reference to
the ratio of net debt to enterprise value of each Portfolio
Company, weighted across all 13 investments.
77%
Weighted
average hedged debt
Weighted average hedged debt calculated by reference
to ratio of hedged debt relative to net debt of each Portfolio
Company.
£60m
Weighted
average EBITDA
Weighted average EBITDA is based on the annual EBITDA
of each Portfolio Company at 31 December 2023, weighted by PINT's
ownership of underlying Portfolio Companies and converted to GBP as
necessary.
|
|
|
Portfolio value 31 December
|
|
|
Asset
valuation
|
FX
|
Portfolio value 31 December
|
Undrawn commitments 31
December
|
Allocation of foreign
exchange hedge
|
Portfolio total return for
the
|
|
|
|
2022
|
Drawn
|
Distributions
|
movement
|
movement
|
2023
|
2023
|
movements
|
year
|
Asset
|
Region
|
Sponsor
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
Primafrio
|
Europe
|
Apollo
|
40.4
|
0.1
|
-
|
7.5
|
(1.0)
|
47.0
|
0.5
|
1.0
|
7.5
|
CyrusOne
|
North America
|
KKR
|
22.8
|
-
|
-
|
5.2
|
(1.4)
|
26.6
|
3.8
|
1.2
|
5.0
|
National Gas
|
UK
|
Macquarie
|
-
|
40.8
|
-
|
6.6
|
-
|
47.4
|
-
|
-
|
6.6
|
Vertical Bridge
|
North America
|
DigitalBridge
|
27.0
|
-
|
-
|
1.9
|
(1.6)
|
27.3
|
-
|
1.4
|
1.7
|
Delta Fiber
|
Europe
|
Stonepeak
|
23.0
|
-
|
-
|
3.2
|
(1.4)
|
24.8
|
1.5
|
-
|
1.8
|
Cartier Energy
|
North America
|
Vauban
|
34.8
|
-
|
-
|
(1.5)
|
(2.0)
|
31.3
|
-
|
1.7
|
(1.8)
|
Calpine
|
North America
|
ECP
|
47.0
|
-
|
(9.0)
|
21.0
|
(3.1)
|
55.9
|
-
|
2.8
|
20.7
|
Vantage Data Centers
|
North America
|
DigitalBridge
|
22.3
|
5.4
|
-
|
-
|
(1.4)
|
26.3
|
-
|
1.3
|
(0.1)
|
Fudura
|
Europe
|
DIF
|
41.3
|
-
|
-
|
5.9
|
(1.0)
|
46.2
|
1.6
|
1.0
|
5.9
|
National Broadband Ireland
|
Europe
|
Asterion
|
42.8
|
1.0
|
-
|
4.6
|
(1.0)
|
47.4
|
2.9
|
1.1
|
4.7
|
GD Towers
|
Europe
|
DigitalBridge
|
-
|
39.3
|
(1.0)
|
0.6
|
(0.9)
|
38.0
|
2.5
|
0.6
|
0.3
|
GlobalConnect
|
Europe
|
EQT
|
-
|
19.0
|
-
|
1.1
|
0.2
|
20.3
|
-
|
-
|
1.3
|
Zenobē
|
UK
|
Infracapital
|
-
|
32.1
|
-
|
1.1
|
-
|
33.2
|
2.9
|
-
|
1.1
|
Grand
Total
|
|
|
301.4
|
137.7
|
(10.0)
|
57.2
|
(14.6)
|
471.7
|
15.7
|
12.1
|
54.7
|
Key:
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
POWER &
UTILITIES
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
ASSET
UPDATES
PRIMAFRIO
Primafrio
performed resilliently despite a challenging trading environment.
With a backdrop of flat volumes arising from a weak macroeconomic
environment in key European markets, the company has been able to
continually grow revenue through increasing market share and
expanding into new markets with new and existing clients. Whilst
margins have recently been impacted by high cost inflation and fuel
costs, the Company's valuation has benefitted from strong downside
protection afforded to Apollo and its co-investors within the
transaction structure.
CYRUSONE
CyrusOne
recovered initial capex backlogs and earnings for the year were in
line with the original investment case. The company entered into a
joint venture with Kansai Electric Power Company during the period,
which is expected to unlock significant opportunities in the Asian
market, and AI‑based computing is expected
to provide significant further tailwinds.
NATIONAL
GAS
National Gas
experienced no material deviations from the original investment
case, with the operation of the existing regulated asset base on
track. The National Infrastructure Commission gave its backing to a
long‑term backbone hydrogen network to aid
the decarbonisation of heavy industry. Furthermore, the government
confirmed its strategy to seek hydrogen blending up to 20% across
the existing network, following similar moves on the continent. The
recent successful pilot project to run 100% hydrogen in repurposed
gas transmission assets was a world first and an important step in
support of hydrogen blending across the network. Stakeholders are
working towards the first blending to align with the start of
scalable hydrogen production in 2026.
VERTICAL
BRIDGE
Vertical
Bridge shifted priorities to its build-to-suit (BTS)
business given an unfavourable market for tower portfolio
acquisitions. The most notable development to date is a joint
venture announced with Verizon for up to 3,000 BTS developments.
The company still sees some delays to rollout due to carriers
deferring capex spend given recent macroeconomic headwinds, but
longer term rollout of increased coverage is not in doubt given 5G
coverage requirements. Furthermore, there have been some recent
positive signals in the M&A market for acquiring existing tower
portfolios, with a number of transactions closing in the period and
an executable pipeline emerging for 2024, which is now more in line
with the original investment case after a cooling off since late
2022.
DELTA
FIBER
Delta Fiber's
rollout is progressing on plan and it expects to have completed
activities by mid-2025 on budget. Retail fibre adoption is tracking
near to plan with no changes to long-term penetration assumptions,
and the company is seeking to replicate a recently announced
wholesale network sharing agreement with Odido (formerly T-Mobile
Netherlands) with other internet service providers.
CARTIER
ENERGY
Cartier Energy
had a challenging year after facing a number of issues including
the imperfect pass-through of energy costs, materially lower
volumes due to significant seasonality shifts, and the loss of a
key customer due to financial challenges. However, the business is
actively working on converting its pipeline of shorter-term
"fill-in" opportunities as well as some capex initiatives
which were identified in the original investment case.
CALPINE
Calpine
continues to outperform its original investment case due to
materially higher short and medium-term profitability arising from
sustained higher spark spreads in its key markets. The company
continues to mitigate its exposure to near-term energy prices
through proactive hedging activities which lock in short-term
profitability. Construction also commenced on its flagship Nova
battery storage project, as well as additional capex deployment
into both its existing renewables fleet and new renewables
opportunities. The company was also awarded federal funding support
for two carbon capture and sequestration projects.
VANTAGE DATA
CENTERS
Vantage Data
Centers sees increased opportunity relative to the original
investment case, principally due to increased cloud and AI
computing demands, for which a significant additional primary
equity commitment was secured in Q4 2023 from both Digital Bridge
and technology focused private equity investor Silver Lake. The
company continues to effectively navigate supply chain and grid
capacity challenges.
FUDURA
Fudura has
outperformed its original investment case since entry. Higher
profit margins have resulted from undertaking higher complexity and
higher margin projects, and revenues from its ancillary growth
initiatives, including EV charging, solar and batteries, are now
ramping up.
NATIONAL BROADBAND
IRELAND
National Broadband
Ireland remains on track with its rollout plan, which
continues to stay on budget. Final rollout is ahead of the revised
contractual targets that were set to address the impact of Covid-19
and the main deployment is expected to be largely completed by the
end of 2026. A large number of internet service providers are now
signed up, which in turn is supporting adoption by end users
greater than foreseen in the original investment case, with the
resulting revenues supporting the company's profitability and
liquidity during construction.
GD TOWERS
GD Towers
enjoyed good progress during the year, with revenues and profits
coming in largely on track with the original investment case. The
business has been focused on implementing several immediate and
significant organisational changes geared towards delivering
process efficiencies in its BTS programme. Along with other
efficiency programmes being explored, the company anticipates
several areas of potential outperformance to the investment case,
but until Q1 2024 will continue to be valued at cost.
GLOBALCONNECT
GlobalConnect's management remain
focused on ensuring the optimal allocation of capital given the
varied markets it operates in, which has resulted in a recent
re-emphasis back towards its core market of fibre-to-the-home
opportunities in the Nordics. The company also reached an important
milestone with more than one million homes passed.
ZENOBĒ
Zenobē has
been busy since PINT's investment was made in Q4 2023, with further
project financing secured for strategically important greenfield
battery projects in Scotland as part of the £750 million rollout
commitment in Scotland by 2026, as well as the announcement of an
all-electric fleet replacement for Oxfordshire County Council.
Portfolio
movement
During the year, the Portfolio generated underlying
growth of £57.2 million, reflecting a 13.0% movement on the
opening capital invested, adjusted for capital calls and
investments, but before adjusting for distributions totalling
£10.0 million. Movements in foreign currencies resulted in a
foreign exchange loss of £14.6 million (offset at a company
level by a foreign exchange hedging gain of
£12.1 million), resulting in a closing value of
£471.7 million at 31 December 2023.
The Portfolio had a weighted average discount rate
(WADR) of 13.6%1
at the year end (31 December 2022: 14.2%).
1. WADR of 13.6% is based on
the discount rate or implied discount rate of each completed
investment at 31 December 2023, weighted on an investment fair
value basis (excluding undrawn commitments).
Portfolio movement
(£million)
Portfolio value 31 December 2022 - 301.4
Capital calls and investments - 137.7
Distributions - (10.0)
Asset valuation movement - 57.2
Foreign exchange movement - (14.6)
Portfolio value 31 December 2023 - 471.7
Outlook
The Investment Manager remains confident about the
prospects of the Portfolio going forward. The tailwinds that
support the demand for new infrastructure, and the growth
opportunities that accompany it, remain strong across all the
sub-sectors in which the Company is active.
From a valuation perspective, the Investment Manager
has seen limited evidence of any material downward trends across
the core-plus infrastructure universe. The consensus amongst
Sponsors that the Investment Manager works with is that the full
extent of discount rate increases attributable to the increased
interest rate environment have now flowed through to valuations.
The volume of remaining dry-powder in the sector, coupled with a
recovery in private markets fundraising since H1 2023, and the
core-plus nature of the Company's assets, continue to support a
constructive valuation environment.
Furthermore the Investment Manager continues to see
sustained transactional evidence of realised premiums to holding
valuations at exit, which adds in further long-term headroom and
potential for outperformance. Specifically, there continues to be
increased appetite for assets with some a high degree of inflation
linkage and those that play a direct role in the energy
transition.
Portfolio cash
flows
Over the medium term, the Company expects the
Portfolio to generate cash flows both through distributions from
its investments and from investment exits, the latter becoming
realised in cash in due course through asset disposals. In turn,
these cash flows are expected to support both the reinvestment of
capital and a progressive dividend policy.
The Company's investment approach is to invest in
assets with an expected hold period that is typically, but not
always, 5-7 years, after which it is expected to realise value by
exiting positions according to the relevant Sponsor's time horizon.
Whilst the Company does expect some of its investments to make
distributions, cash generation through this approach is expected to
be heavily weighted towards the receipt of sale proceeds at the
point of investment exit, and in some cases no distributions are
forecast.
The Company maintains a long-term forecast of both
sources of cash flow, which is derived from either investment base
case expectations or Sponsor updates where available. The latest
projection of the Company's cash flows from the Portfolio is
summarised opposite, as at 31 December 2023.
The projection is based on existing investments only
and does not factor in any potential for re-investment of capital
after realisations, which accordingly accounts for the downward
trend of distributions after realisations occur.
Whilst these projections are intended to present a
plausible long-term expectation of the current Portfolio's cash
flow generation, there is no guarantee around the quantum or timing
of distributions or realisations, which remain dependent on
multiple factors including underlying asset performance, exit
timing, and long-term FX rate assumptions. Accordingly they should
not be considered as guidance around financial performance.
For a Projected Portfolio cash flows chart, please see
page 31 of the full Annual Report and Accounts.
H2 2023
dividend
At IPO, the Company said it would target a NAV Total
Return of 8-10% p.a. following full investment of the IPO
proceeds, and an initial dividend of at least 2p per share for the
first financial period ended 31 December 2022, rising to 4p per
share for the year ended 31 December 2023, and a progressive
dividend thereafter. In line with this, the Board recently declared
the Company's second interim dividend of 2p per share in respect of
the year ended 31 December 2023, which is due to be paid on 23
April 2024. This is in line with the IPO target.
Dividend
cover
The Company has devised a measure to assess dividend
coverage by calculating the ratio of net cash flow to dividends
declared in respect of a given period. This is calculated across
the whole group, including the Company's subsidiary, Pantheon
Infrastructure Holdings LP (PIH LP), through which the Company
holds the majority of its investments. Net cash flow for this
purpose is calculated as income (the sum of all income and capital
distributions that are not related to asset disposals, plus deposit
interest income) plus disposal profits (realised profits on
disposal, or disposal proceeds less original investment cost), less
operating and financing expenses incurred during the same
period.
On this basis, the Company's dividend cover for 2022
and 2023 was 0.2x as detailed below. As set out in the previous
exhibit of cash flows, the Company expects material progression in
cash flows from the Portfolio, which in turn is expected to flow
through to improved dividend coverage.
£m
|
2022
|
2023
|
Income
|
6.1
|
13.1
|
Disposal profits
|
-
|
-
|
Operating costs
|
(4.6)
|
(6.6)
|
Financing costs
|
(0.0)
|
(1.5)
|
Net cash flow for
dividend cover
|
1.5
|
4.9
|
Dividend declared
|
9.6
|
18.9
|
Dividend
cover
|
0.2x
|
0.3x
|
Cumulative dividend
cover
|
0.2x
|
0.2x
|
Borrowings
In June 2023, the Company agreed a £52.5 million
increase to its existing £62.5 million three-year
multi-currency RCF, bringing the total to £115.0 million.
As part of the increase, the Company sought to diversify the
lender group, with the introduction of RBS International (RBSI),
alongside Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc ('Lloyds').
After the period end, the Company extended the term of
the RCF by 15 months, effectively resetting the tenor at
three years with the same pricing and terms. The enlarged
and extended RCF allows the Company to maintain liquidity for
unfunded commitments and working capital requirements whilst
minimising the inefficiencies of holding excessive cash.
The RCF, which is secured on the assets of the Company,
includes an uncommitted accordion feature, which will be
accessible, subject to approval, by additional lenders, and is
intended to increase over time in line with the Company's NAV
progression.
Share
buybacks
As at 31 December 2023, the Company had deployed
£5.8 million in buying back 7.4 million of its own shares,
and subsequent to the year end, spent a further £2.6 million in
buying back 3.1 million shares. Reacquired shares are held in
treasury and may be subsequently re-issued if the Company's shares
return to trading at a premium to NAV. At the year end the Company
continued to make allowance for the remaining £4.2 million of the
£10 million originally allocated to share buybacks, as part of its
liquidity management as detailed on the analysis presented
below.
The Board continues to regularly assess the Company's
optimal approach to capital allocation in light of its forecast
cash flows, dividend target and expectations of dividend cover, and
as detailed in the Chair's statement, has allocated an additional
£8.4 million for share buybacks.
Cash and liquidity
management
At the year end, the Company had total available
liquidity of £144.4 million (31 December 2022:
£245.4 million), comprising £29.4 million of cash (31
December 2022: £182.9 million) and £115.0 million (31
December 2022: £62.5 million) of undrawn RCF.
The Company maintains a policy to hold liquidity
sufficient to cover all investment commitments, including for share
buybacks, due in the next twelve months. At the year end, this
amount totalled £20.0 million.
In addition to this, the Company has adopted a
risk-based policy to hold specific cash buffers in respect of
potential further liquidity requirements. These buffers include
forecast operating costs, dividend payments, FX hedge settlements
due (based on mark-to-market valuations), an allowance for
emergency co-investment capital across the Portfolio, allowances
for FX movements on undrawn non‑GBP
commitments, and amounts held against potential movements in the
Company's FX hedging positions (calculated relative to
notional amounts and contractual maturity). At the year end, these
amounts totalled £79.9 million.
The net balance after taking account of all these
considerations represents the funds available to the Company for
further investment. As at the year end, this stood at
£44.5 million (31 December 2022: £72.0 million).
|
£m1
|
Sources
|
|
Cash & equivalents
|
29.4
|
RCF
|
115.0
|
Total (A)
|
144.4
|
Commitments
|
|
Undrawn investment commitments
|
15.7
|
Share buybacks
|
4.2
|
Total (B)
|
20.0
|
Buffers
|
|
Operating costs
|
8.5
|
Dividends
|
18.8
|
Co-investment buffer
|
22.1
|
FX buffers on undrawn investment commitments
|
2.4
|
FX hedging buffer (see below)
|
28.2
|
Total (C)
|
79.9
|
Available funds (= A
- B - C)
|
44.5
|
1. Totals do not match due to
rounding.
Ongoing
charges
The Company's ongoing charges figure is calculated in
accordance with the Association of Investment Companies (AIC)
recommended methodology and was 1.35% for the year to
31 December 2023 (period to 31 December 2022: 1.02%). The
ongoing charges were lower in the period to 31 December 2022
as no management fee was paid on undeployed cash until 75% of
the net issue proceeds were deployed, which was achieved in
the quarter to 30 September 2022.
Foreign exchange
impact
In order to limit the potential impact from material
movements in major foreign exchange rates on non‑local currency investments, the Company has put in
place a foreign exchange hedging programme. The aim of this
programme is to reduce (rather than eliminate) the impact of
movements in foreign exchange rates on the Company's NAV, and to
this end the Company has an internal policy to seek to limit its
unhedged exposure to 25% of NAV at any time. Hedging is achieved
through the execution of foreign exchange hedging contracts
relative to the ongoing non-local currency investment exposure.
This is subject to, inter alia, market liquidity and pricing for
hedges, foreign exchange volatilities, the composition of the
Company's portfolio and the Company's balance sheet.
The Company has entered into arrangements with six
hedging counterparties, all on an unsecured basis and subject only
to margin calls if pre-specified credit limits are breached on an
individual counterparty (not aggregate) basis. Furthermore, in line
with the Investment Manager's risk policies, the Company has
adopted a policy to maintain strict liquidity buffers in relation
to these hedging positions to protect against extreme
volatility‑driven margin requirements.
Details of the Company's hedging positions and associated cash
buffers are set out in the table opposite.
The depreciation of USD and EUR resulted in a negative
foreign exchange movement in the year to 31 December 2023 of
(£14.6) million (period to 31 December 2022, gain of
£9.9 million), which was partially offset by a gain on
the hedging programme of £12.1 million (period to
31 December 2022, loss of £8.5 million).
For a chart of Foreign exchange hedging - NAV impact
(price per share) please see page 34 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts.
|
EUR notional
|
USD notional
|
Mark-to-market
|
Buffer
|
Counterparty
|
(€m)
|
($m)
|
(£m)
|
(£m)
|
A
|
-
|
76.1
|
(0.1)
|
8.4
|
B
|
-
|
36.2
|
(0.4)
|
3.4
|
C
|
45.3
|
12.4
|
1.1
|
-
|
D
|
23.7
|
8.8
|
0.7
|
2.1
|
E
|
76.4
|
24.5
|
1.4
|
6.6
|
F
|
53.8
|
55.8
|
1.3
|
7.7
|
Total
|
119.2
|
213.8
|
3.9
|
28.2
|
ASSUMPTIONS AND
SENSITIVITIES
Introduction
The Portfolio valuation is the largest component of
the Company's NAV and is determined by the valuations provided by
the underlying investment Sponsors. These valuations are typically
calculated on a discounted cash flow (DCF) basis, which are subject
to a variety of underlying assumptions that are specific to the
sector and characteristics of each Portfolio Company, and are
determined by the investment Sponsors.
The degree to which these long-term assumptions change
or are adjusted has the potential to impact the Company's NAV.With
this in mind, the Investment Manager has performed a detailed
analysis across the Portfolio to determine the Company's
sensitivity to changes across a range of key assumptions, which are
presented below.
Macroeconomic
Discount
rates
Discount rates are a measure of the relative risk of
an investment, and will typically comprise a risk-free rate
component along with a sector or project-specific equity risk
premium, which is determined relative to specific project risks and
benchmark transactions. In some cases, Sponsors use a WACC-based
discount rate to derive an enterprise valuation which is then
adjusted by net debt to give an equity value. The Company does not
disclose individual discount rates but reports its aggregated WADR,
which at the year end was 13.6%.
Inflation
The extent to which a Portfolio Company's existing
revenues and costs are expected to inflate, or escalate, also
impacts valuations. The escalation of revenues and costs is often
determined through contractual arrangements, with measures
including direct pass-through of a local inflation measure, fixed
escalators, inflation linkage subject to escalation caps and/or
floors, or no indexation at all. Where revenues and/or costs are
directly linked to inflation, any changes to the inflation
assumptions determined by Sponsors will impact on valuations.
Sponsors typically utilise external economic forecasts or central
bank guidance for inflation assumptions. Where revenues or costs
are not contracted, escalation will be determined by pricing power
and therefore requires a greater degree of judgement.
Interest
rate
Interest rate assumptions impact valuations if a
Portfolio Company has an element of unhedged debt or expects to
drawdown on floating rate borrowing facilities within its business
plan. Where this is the case, Sponsors will usually update
valuations to reflect the latest projections for long‑term interbank lending, swap or risk-free rates.
For PINT NAV sensitivities as 31 December 2023
(Macroeconomic) chart please see page 35 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts.
Performance
Earnings
growth
Earnings growth assumptions represent a key valuation
assumption across the Portfolio. The most common earnings measure
used is EBITDA, however other variations include Towers Cash Flow
(towers) and Net Operating Income (data centres). Earnings growth
forecasts represent a key area of judgement for Sponsors at the
underwriting stage and usually incorporate several factors,
including long-term assessments of market growth, market share and
the barriers to entry in the sector, details of any high conviction
opportunities and the potential for customer churn.
Exit
valuation
The Company's stated business model is to invest in
assets with a typical hold period of 5-7 years, before realising
value through disposals, and recycling proceeds into new
investments.
Accordingly, the Company's valuations are determined
by assumptions around the terminal value of a Portfolio Company at
the end of this 5-7 year period. Common methods of determining exit
valuations include the application of a terminal earnings (EBITDA,
Towers Cash Flow, Net Operating Income etc.) multiple, or a DCF
approach based on a long‑term or even
perpetual stream of cash flows discounted at an assumed secondary
purchaser IRR. The assumptions around these methods are typically
taken from comparable recent transactions.
Exit
timing
As with exit valuations, the assumptions around exit
timing also impact the valuations of investment. The main drivers
that feed in to this assumption are the duration of any capex
rollout plans, the time horizon of the Sponsor's funds that are
invested alongside PINT, as well as the expectations around
longer-term market growth trends.
Operational expenditure ('Opex')
Operating expenditure will impact the profitability of
Portfolio Companies, and increases that cannot be contractually
passed on to customers have the potential to impact valuations.
Sponsors also expect to achieve business efficiencies and for
Portfolio Companies to operate at improved margins at increased
business scale, and so the extent to which such views are revised
in their assumptions will also impact valuations.
Capital
expenditure ('Capex')
Determining capital expenditure is particularly
critical for businesses with significant growth or remedial plans,
and those that price offtake agreements around expected
construction costs. Whilst in some cases there may be the ability
to pass on increased input costs arising from capital expenditure
to customers, this is not always possible, so Sponsors will usually
incorporate a degree of contingency in their capital expenditure
assumptions, whilst also mitigating the potential for cost
increases through effective sub‑contractor
arrangements.
For a chart of PINT NAV sensitivities at 31 December
2023 (Performance) please see page 36 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts.
Sector
specific
Energy
volumes
PINT is exposed to the level of energy volume
consumption or generation across some of its Power & Utilities
investments. Long-term assumptions in this regard are typically
based on a combination of historic volumes, the ongoing
availability/efficiency of equipment and infrastructure and the
presence of any minimum offtake or "take-or-pay" provisions or
manufacturer availability guarantees.
Commodity
prices
Commodity prices impact a number of the Company's
investments that have long-term exposure to wholesale energy
markets, through uncontracted revenues or imperfect pass-through of
costs. As with other macroeconomic factors such as inflation and
interest rates, Sponsors will often utilise external consultants to
provide updated forecasts for such prices for inclusion in
long-term cash flow/earnings forecasts.
Fibre
penetration
Along with average revenue per unit (ARPU), fibre
penetration is one of the key long-term inputs for a fibre
business. The penetration assumption is the degree to which a
Portfolio Company operating a fibre network assumes it will convert
the number of homes it passes into paying customers and
significantly impacts long-term earnings forecasts. The long-term
assumptions in this regard are specific to the geography that the
Portfolio Company operates in and the associated market dynamics
(e.g. transaction structure or location, or any competitive
advantage providing protections against overbuild or churn
risks).
Hydrogen
adoption
PINT is exposed to future hydrogen policy through its
Power & Utilities investment in National Gas. The degree to
which hydrogen adoption is assumed in the UK as an alternative
energy source for domestic and industrial heating and eventually
transport and energy, impacts the valuation of the investment. A
range of potential outcomes for this adoption exist, with the
downside being low hydrogen adoption though an "electric future"
scenario and the upside being an accelerated hydrogen adoption
"green has future" scenario .
M&A
A number of the Company's investments, most notably in
the towers sector, include long-term assumptions around accretive
M&A activities (i.e. the ability to acquire additional towers
at favourable pricing). Such assumptions are subject to extensive
due diligence and reflect very specific factors to each
transaction, including geographic location, current ownership of
M&A targets, potential acquisition synergies and/or strategic
benefits, and any relevant exclusivity agreements.
For a chart of PINT NAV sensitivities at 31 December
2023 (sector specific) please see page 37 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts.
ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES (APMs)
PINT assesses its performance using a variety of
measures that may not specifically be defined under FRS 102 and are
therefore termed APMs. The APMs used may not be directly
comparable with those used by other companies. These APMs
provide additional information as to how the Company has performed
over the period and allow the Board, management and
stakeholders to compare its performance.
APM
|
Details
|
Calculation
|
Reconciliation to FRS
102
|
How has PINT
performed?
|
NAV Total Return
|
Total return comprises the investment return from the
Portfolio and income from any cash balances, net of management,
operating and finance costs. It also includes foreign exchange
movement and movement in the fair value of derivatives and
taxes.
|
It is calculated as the total return of
£49.6 million (period to 31 December 2022: £8.0
million), as shown in the Income statement, as a percentage of the
opening NAV of £474.8 million (31 December 2022: £392.1
million which was based on the net IPO proceeds).
|
The calculation uses the total comprehensive income
reported in the income statement and net assets reported in the
balance sheet, both being FRS 102 measures.
|
Total return for the year to
31 December 2023 was 10.4% (period to 31 December 2022:
2.1%).
|
Net asset value per share
|
A measure of the NAV per share in the Company.
|
It is calculated as the NAV divided by the total
number of shares in issue at the balance sheet date.
|
The calculation uses FRS 102 measures and is set out
in Note 18 to the accounts.
|
NAV per share at 31 December 2023 was 106.6p per share
(31 December 2022: 98.9p per share).
|
Annual distribution
|
This measure reflects the dividends distributed to
shareholders in respect of each year.
|
The dividend is measured on a pence per share
basis.
|
The calculation uses FRS 102 measures, set out in
Note 9 to the accounts.
|
Second interim dividend of 2p per share declared, to
be paid on 23 April 2024, which together with the dividend of
2p per share paid in October 2023 totals 4p per
share for the year ended 31 December 2023.
The Company intends to continue paying dividends on
a semi-annual basis in line with its progressive dividend
policy.
|
Investment value and outstanding commitments
|
A measure of the size of the investment portfolio
including the value of further contracted future investments
committed by the Company.
|
It is calculated as the Portfolio asset value plus the
amount of contracted commitments.
|
The Portfolio asset value uses the FRS 102 measure
investments at fair value, set out in Note 1. The value of
outstanding commitments is set out in Note 21 to the
accounts.
|
The portfolio asset value at 31 December 2023 was
£471.7 million (31 December 2022: £301.4 million).
Outstanding commitments at 31 December 2023 were £15.7
million (31 December 2022: £57.9 million)
|
INVESTMENT POLICY
As stated in its prospectus, the Company invests in a
diversified portfolio of high-quality operational infrastructure
assets which provide essential physical structures, systems and/or
services to allow economies and communities to function
effectively. The Company invests in both yielding and growth
infrastructure assets which the Manager believes offer strong
downside protection and typically offer strong inflation
protection.
The Company invests globally, with a primary focus on
developed OECD markets, with the majority of its investments in
Europe and North America. The Company's portfolio is diversified
across infrastructure sectors.
In each case, the Manager invests where it believes it
can generate the most attractive risk‑adjusted returns.
The Company focuses on gaining exposure to
infrastructure assets via co-investments alongside leading
third-party private direct infrastructure asset investment managers
who are acting as general partner or manager of a fund in which
Pantheon, or any investment scheme, pooled investment vehicle or
portfolio fund managed by Pantheon, has invested or may invest
('Sponsors'). In doing so, the Company may invest on its own or
alongside other institutional clients of the Manager.
The Company may also invest in other direct or
single asset investment opportunities originated by the Manager or
by other third-party asset sourcing partners. The Company does not
invest in private funds targeting a diversified portfolio of
infrastructure investments.
Investment
restrictions
The Company invests and manages its assets with the
objective of spreading risk and, in doing so, is subject to
the following investment restrictions, which are measured at the
time of investment:
· no
single portfolio investment will represent more than 15% of Gross
Asset Value;
· no
more than 20% of Gross Asset Value will be invested in investments
where the underlying infrastructure asset is located in a non-OECD
country; and
· no
more than 30% of Gross Asset Value will be invested alongside funds
or accounts of any single Sponsor (other than Pantheon).
In addition, the Company does not invest in
infrastructure assets whose principal operations are in any of
the following sectors (each a 'Restricted Sector'):
·
coal (including coal-fired generation, transportation and
mining);
· oil
(including upstream, midstream and storage);
·
upstream gas;
·
nuclear energy; and
·
mining.
The Company may invest in infrastructure assets whose
principal operations are not in a Restricted Sector, but that
nonetheless have some exposure to a Restricted Sector (for example,
a diversified freight rail transportation asset that has some
exposure to the coal sector), provided that: (i) no more
than 15% of any such infrastructure asset's total revenues are
derived from Restricted Sectors; (ii) no more than 5% of
total revenues across the Portfolio (measured on a look-through
basis) will be so derived.
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
(including wireless towers, data
centres and fibre-optic networks)
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
(including ports, rail, roads, airports and logistics
assets)
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
(including smart infrastructure, wind,
solar and sustainable waste)
SOCIAL & OTHER
INFRASTRUCTURE
(including education, healthcare, government and
community buildings)
POWER &
UTILITIES
(including transmission and distribution networks,
regulated utility companies and efficient conventional power
assets)
Q&A WITH THE INVESTMENT MANAGER
How has PINT
performed in the year, in shareholder return and NAV
terms?
From a NAV perspective, we are very happy to have seen
performance come through during the year as the exciting potential
of PINT's portfolio has translated into fair value gains. This NAV
progression, in addition to the dividends paid during the year,
accounted for a NAV Total Return of 10.4%, which is tracking above
the original IPO target of 8-10% per annum.
It is frustrating that PINT's share price return has
not progressed in the same manner. The Company continues to be
impacted by the wider market factors stemming from the increased
interest rate environment, most acutely the outflows from retail
and wealth managers, which have resulted in the current share price
discount to NAV. We remain focused on maintaining the robust
performance of the Portfolio and retain full confidence that in
time the Company's share price will reflect NAV.
PINT is very active
in the Digital Infrastructure sector, with more than 40% of its
assets invested in the sector - why are you so heavily invested in
the sector, and is this a trend you expect to continue? What are
the risks associated with this sector?
PINT remains committed to a long-term allocation of
around 35% in digital, and the volume of transactions done to date
is a function of the high-quality deal flow we have seen across the
fibre, towers and data centre sub-sectors. An increasingly
connected world with a great reliance on the sharing of data means
the favourable tailwinds in this sector are only likely to grow in
time, which makes it an incredibly exciting space to be investing
in.
As with an investment in any specific sector, this has
to be done mindful of the apparent risks. Some of the factors that
have been considered during the process of investing in PINT's
digital assets include assessing prospective market share and
overbuild risk (fibre), the tenor of contracts with customers (data
centres and towers), access to power grid capacity (data centres)
and the ability to add additional carriers to existing towers to
increase tenancy ratios (towers).
What headwinds do you
anticipate for the infrastructure asset class over the next year,
and what are you doing to mitigate them?
We continue to be focused on the key risks around
leverage, effective management of interest rate and merchant price
exposures, and limiting exposure to GDP or demand-based risks. We
think that speaks as much to what we consider to be infrastructure
risk as much as it reflects an approach to mitigate risks in the
current environment.
How are you going to
continue to generate returns in a higher interest rate
environment?
By investing in operating companies with favourable
growth potential, there is some degree of exposure to interest rate
risk (through capex facilities/RCFs which cannot be locked down in
the way the debt of a solely operating asset can be). However, what
we are seeing is that the companies PINT invests in have broadly
been very effective at passing on these costs through their pricing
models. More simplistically, these companies maintain discipline
through their capital allocation and the returns for new projects
or initiatives need to make sense in the current environment. We
are encouraged to have seen this capital discipline maintained
across the Portfolio.
Given the interest
rate and economic environment, what new strategies or approaches
are you considering to meet your targets in terms of income and
total returns?
Given the positive NAV development we are seeing and
the overall Portfolio performance in what has been a challenging
macro environment, we do not see any immediate need to change
PINT's approach. In fact, if anything, we think the approach has
been bolstered by the fact we are now seeing investors place a
greater emphasis on the need for capital growth from their
infrastructure allocations.
How will the Company
grow while the share price trades at a discount to NAV?
PINT's investment approach is to deliver NAV growth
through capital appreciation across its Portfolio. This is
important because as well as being a differentiator amongst a peer
group that has traditionally been predominantly income focused, it
means that the vehicle will naturally grow through the passage of
time, providing investment objectives are achieved. We believe that
realising this NAV growth through investment exits, then recycling
proceeds into further growth opportunities, presents a valid basis
for the Company's share price to return to a premium in the
long-term, providing opportunities to materially increase the size
of the Company through additional equity issuances.
OUR MARKET
Infrastructure
continues to demonstrate resilience against a challenging
macroeconomic backdrop.
Market
growth
In 2023, AUM in the private infrastructure market grew
to in excess of $1 trillion, with a projected CAGR of ~11% between
2023 and 20271. Against this backdrop, competition for
assets has intensified, with allocations to infrastructure
increasing and new participants entering the market in specialised
sub‑sectors. Increased competition in the
market has necessitated a focus on maintaining a disciplined
and selective investment approach.
Macro
Deterioration in the global macro economy has
continued to demonstrate the resilience of the infrastructure asset
class. Rising inflation, although directly benefiting those
assets with inflation linkage, led to central bank policy
tightening throughout 2023. However, Pantheon's experience is that
any upward pressure on discount rates for infrastructure asset
valuations has largely been offset by valuation benefits associated
with inflation and other sector-specific tailwinds.
Key macro
themes
01. Rising
inflation
·
Peak inflation appears to have passed and, in most developed
economies, inflation rates are falling.
·
Contracted and inflation-linked revenues can provide protection
during periods of rising inflation.
02. Rising
energy prices
·
Energy markets have dramatically changed over the past year or two,
which has knock-on effects for certain types of
infrastructure assets.
·
Power generation assets with merchant price exposure should
continue to see yield and valuation benefits.
·
Assets with pricing power will continue, where possible, to pass on
higher energy costs to customers.
·
Energy-intensive infrastructure assets may experience headwinds as
a result of higher costs.
03.
Interest rates
·
Increased bond yields have driven up risk-free rates, although
transactional evidence is not showing any significant increase in
discount rates for core plus assets, and yields now seem to have
peaked.
·
Historic debt financing on favourable terms, hedging and
availability of longer-term fixed debt have provided a good
degree of downside protection. Higher future refinancing rates
could lead to lower enterprise valuations.
04.
Foreign exchange
·
Although PINT's foreign exchange risk is partly hedged,
USD strength will continue to benefit assets with
USD‑denominated revenue.
1. Source: Preqin Special Report - The Future of
Alternatives in 2027. Closed‑ended funds
only; October 2022.
Infrastructure market
indicators
Upward trends in deal activity, recovering fundraising
and improving investor sentiment provide a positive backdrop for
future growth.
For charts showing:
Deal activity by geography;
Deal activity by sector;
Infrastructure fundraising; and
Investor sentiment for future allocations
please see page 43 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts.
The way in which
societies and economies function over time is changing, which
creates new long-term tailwinds for the sectors that serve
them.
PINT has constructed a portfolio in these growing
markets with favourable tailwinds which should provide sustainable
returns to shareholders.
Global
changes
Urbanisation
Digitalisation
Smart
cities
Telecommunications
Work from
home
Decarbonisation
Population
growth
Supply
chain realignment
Key sector
themes
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
·
Sustained increase in demand due to global trends requiring major
increase in data/connectivity (remote working, gaming, AI,
streaming, videos etc.).
·
Labour and supply chain shortages/issues are impacting certain
build-out and development projects.
POWER &
UTILITIES
· The
role of hydrogen has the potential to be significant in energy
transition, which impacts utilities such as gas transmission and
distribution companies.
·
Revenues tend to be inflation-linked, which is highly beneficial in
the current market environment.
·
High demand and lack of supply in the market has driven asset
prices up.
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
·
Governments and supranational organisations globally are
prioritising climate change issues and clean energy, leading to
tangible and targets for many organisations.
·
Infrastructure supporting the development of energy transition is
still under‑developed in areas such
as the electric grid/EVs; further investment in this sector is
in high demand.
·
However, the process to build/transition relevant assets is
comparatively slow.
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
·
Increased demand for cleaner modes of transport in line with
aforementioned global trends.
SOCIAL & OTHER
INFRASTRUCTURE
·
Growth in life sciences, medical services and research, and an
ageing population are driving demand for infrastructure in
this sector.
·
Challenges include lack of tangible current deal flow, and limited
relative attractiveness due to pricing, which has meant PINT has
not made any social infrastructure investments to date.
Pantheon opinion. There is no guarantee that these
trends will persist.
SECTOR SPOTLIGHT - HYDROGEN
Introduction
Hydrogen is an abundant, energy-dense and combustible
element which exists in gas form at temperatures above -253˚C. Its
properties give it the potential to displace fossil fuels in a
range of industrial processes and power generation.
Some of its potential end uses include:
·
Transport fuel - shipping, aviation, heavy vehicles
·
Fertiliser production
·
Plastics and chemical manufacturing
·
Steel production
There is also ongoing consideration of hydrogen's role
in heat and power generation, the viability of which continues to
be debated relative to the process efficiency compared to other
low-carbon sources, such as renewable power generation and district
heating.
Production
Globally, approximately 95% of all hydrogen is
produced by the steam methane reforming (SMR) process. The SMR
process involves reacting fossil fuels (mainly natural gas) with
steam at high temperatures to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Without the addition of carbon capture technology, carbon dioxide
is released as a byproduct of this process, creating what is
commonly referred to as "grey hydrogen". There are a variety of
other methods that seek to reduce the carbon intensity of
production, including:
·
green hydrogen - typically produced through splitting water by
electrolysis using renewable power;
·
blue hydrogen - produced from SMR with carbon capture; and
·
pink hydrogen - produced through splitting water by electrolysis
using power generated from nuclear power.
Role of hydrogen in
energy transition
The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its latest
Net Zero Roadmap Update, estimates that hydrogen will be
responsible for c.4% of the emissions abatement in a scenario where
net zero emissions are achieved by 2050.
Emissions reduction
by mitigation in the net zero scenario, 2021-2050
Renewables | 32%
Electrification | 20%
Energy efficiency | 12%
CCUS | 8%
Behaviour and avoided demand | 12%
Hydrogen | 4%
Other fuel shifts | 12%
This contribution implies an increase in demand for
hydrogen from around 100 million tonnes (Mt) today to 150Mt by
2030, increasing to 430Mt in 2050, all of which will need to be
produced from low-carbon sources. The significant contributors to
this increase are transport (main impact from 2035), industry
(significant current demand expected to grow as industrial
processes are decarbonised) and power generation (replacement of
natural gas and coal‑fired power
generation).
For chart showing the Announced annual electrolyser
manufacturing capacity (GW) - % of NZE capacity please see page 46
of the full Annual Report and Accounts.
Hydrogen
infrastructure
Governments around the world have set targets for
green hydrogen production to support the decarbonisation of
industrial processes and transport.
The forecast increase in demand for low-carbon
hydrogen and associated support schemes put in place by governments
has spurred investment across the value chain by corporate and
infrastructure investors into electrolysis derived green hydrogen
opportunities. The IEA estimates that electrolyser manufacturing
investments announced to date will cover 73% of the total required
global capacity by 2030.
United
Kingdom
2GW by
2025
10GW by
2030
· Net
Zero Hydrogen Fund - £240 million pathfinder funding.
· Low
Carbon Hydrogen Agreement - Govt. backed Contract-for-Difference
(CfD).
·
Supporting "no regrets" transportation and storage.
United
States
10Mt by
2030
50Mt by
2050
·
Target to produce clean hydrogen at $1/kg by 2030.
·
Focus on regional networks near off-takers.
·
H2Hubs - $7 billion of federal funding to support 3Mt p.a.
capacity.
European
Union
10Mt, 40GW by
2030
·
REPowerEU - innovation funding and carbon CfDs.
· EC
regulation will require replacement of 40% grey hydrogen with
renewable hydrogen by 2025.
· €6
billion Connecting Europe Facility funding for cross-border energy
projects.
Australia
Up to 10% of global
supply in 2050
·
Target to produce clean hydrogen at A$2/kg.
·
A$1.2 billion of investment to date, including seven clean hydrogen
hubs.
·
Australian mining company, Fortescue, is targeting 15Mt production
by 2030.
PINT
approach
PINT's approach to identifying investment
opportunities in hydrogen is focused on projects that demonstrate
characteristics aligned with traditional infrastructure assets,
namely with downside protection through a high proportion of
contractual or regulated cash flows that feature some explicit or
implicit link to inflation.
Currently, hydrogen projects in development typically
have limited visibility of long-term offtake agreements at the
outset, making it difficult to assess the balance of risk and
reward. Some subsidy regimes, such as the Low Carbon Hydrogen
Agreement in the UK, can help to mitigate cash flow uncertainty
once a project is operational.
Transactions that involve the decarbonisation of an
existing asset can provide increased cash flow visibility and
downside protection if the transition to hydrogen is delayed or the
terms of supply/offtake agreements and state support are initially
unknown. In this respect, PINT has invested in National Gas, a
regulated utility which owns and operates the gas transmission
network in Great Britain. Its current network supplies natural gas
used in power generation, industrial processes and by the 85% of UK
households that use gas-fired heating. It connects Great Britain to
key gas import and export infrastructure including onshore
terminals for gas fields in the North Sea, LNG terminals and
interconnectors with Europe. National Gas is working together with
other key stakeholders, including gas distribution networks, to
develop a facility from decommissioned assets which will carry out
safety and feasibility tests on hydrogen blending in existing gas
infrastructure. This will inform a broader project to upgrade and
repurpose the transmission network to carry hydrogen from key
production sites across Great Britain to industrial clusters and
distribution networks. The decision on whether to proceed with
hydrogen blending and undertake related network investment will
ultimately be made in conjunction with regulator Ofgem, the Health
& Safety Executive and the UK government.
BUSINESS MODEL
Purpose
The
Company has built a global portfolio of investments with
blended risk/return profiles, and set targets across
deal types, sectors and geographies for
diversification.
Our co-investment strategy differentiates us in the
listed infrastructure market.
What sets us
apart
1 Deal Selectivity
Sponsor relationships drive strong deal flow, allowing
for highly selective investment process.
2 Diversification
Access to investments across sourcing Sponsors,
sectors and geographies.
3 Sponsor Specialisation
Ability to choose deals alongside a Sponsor with a
distinct edge who may be best placed to create value.
4 Fee efficient
Co-investments typically offered with no ongoing
management fee/carried interest charged by the Sponsors.
Capturing secular
growth
DIGITAL
INFRASTRUCTURE
·
Growth in mobile data traffic
·
Growth in 5G connected devices
RENEWABLES &
ENERGY
EFFICIENCY
·
Average cost reduction for solar/wind
·
Increasing global installed wind/solar capacity
POWER &
UTILITIES
·
US/Europe transitioning grids to accommodate more renewable
energy
· US
coal power plant retirements
TRANSPORT &
LOGISTICS
·
Increased global trade
·
Higher e‑commerce penetration
How we create
value
Investors
|
Shareholders
Investors in PINT can
participate in a globally diversified portfolio of infrastructure
assets alongside other leading private asset managers and
institutional investors.
|
PINT's business model creates value by
allowing Pantheon, the Investment Manager, to allocate capital and
invest on its behalf alongside the Sponsors that it believes have a
distinct edge in a particular infrastructure
sector.
|
Vehicle
|
PINT (public)
PINT has access to
Pantheon's deal sourcing platform.
Since PINT is publicly
listed, any retail or institutional investor is able to benefit
from any value it creates.
|
PANTHEON
Other Pantheon Funds (private)
Pantheon provides a broad
sourcing network with leading private asset investment managers and
has strong relationships with Sponsors it can leverage on behalf of
PINT.
Refer to the Investment
Manager's report for more details.
|
Portfolio
|
Infrastructure assets
High‑quality infrastructure assets typically benefit from
long‑term contractual cash flows, positive
correlation to inflation and exposure to secular changes in
society.
|
Value
creation
8-10%
p.a.
NAV Total Return
per share
4p
per share1
second year dividend,
progressive thereafter
1. The Company is paying a dividend of 4p per share
for the year ended 31 December 2023, and, thereafter,
progressive.
Background to
co-investments
There are
broadly three routes to investing in private infrastructure
assets:
Co-investments
Co-investments give investors the opportunity to
invest alongside Sponsors in specific Portfolio Companies.
Allocating to co-investments can provide incremental advantages to
investors, including targeted deal selection and fee-efficient
exposure to transactions which are often offered by Sponsors on a
no-fee and no‑carry basis.
Primaries
Primaries involve a commitment to a newly launched
limited life fund managed by a Sponsor who will build a portfolio
of private investments and seek to exit improved businesses in the
later years of the fund term at a
profit.
Secondaries
Secondaries traditionally involve the purchase of an
interest in an established private fund or a portfolio of funds
from an existing investor.
PINT's investment policy is to gain exposure to
infrastructure assets via co-investments. This can take the form of
the following types of transaction:
·
Co-bid: partnering with a
lead Sponsor to underwrite a deal prior to final bid
submission, requiring the need for a sophisticated investor
who can lead independent due diligence on an asset.
·
Targeted syndication:
following the signing of a deal, a Sponsor will offer a select
group of investors a portion of the deal. This will typically
comprise fewer than five parties, who may have undertaken some
early due diligence on the transaction.
·
General syndication:
following the signing of a deal, a Sponsor will offer all of
its existing fund investors the opportunity to gain exposure to a
transaction.
Sale process initiated
|
Final bid submitted
|
Deal signing
|
Co-bid
|
|
Targeted syndication
|
|
|
General syndication
|
Advantages of
investing in infrastructure via co-investments
Investing in co-investments can be an attractive way
to gain access to private infrastructure for several reasons,
including:
Access
There are fewer public market opportunities to access
infrastructure assets, as infrastructure companies tend to remain
private for longer periods of time. Therefore, investing through
co-investments provides access to assets not normally accessible by
public market investors.
Enhanced
economics
The use of co-investments can reduce the overall
expense ratio and gross-to‑net performance
spread of a portfolio, as most deals are offered with no ongoing
management fee or carried interest charged by the Sponsor.
Alignment
The structure of co-investments provides significant
alignment through the incentivisation of both deal Sponsors, who
typically provide the majority of capital through their primary
fund vehicles, and Portfolio Company management who are typically
tied in under long-term incentive programmes.
Portfolio
construction
Pantheon is able to utilise co-investments to select
individual assets to gain exposure to, and tilt the Portfolio
towards, sectors based on the Investment Manager's view on relative
value.
Diversification
Co-investments enable a portfolio to be constructed
that is diversified across infrastructure sectors, geographies,
stages and Sponsor.
Exposure to
nascent sectors
Co-investments can provide access to nascent and
emerging sectors that may otherwise be underweight or not be
available within primary or secondary investment opportunities.
Sponsor
specialisation
Co-investors have the ability to choose deals
alongside a Sponsor with a distinct edge who may be best placed
to create value.
Pantheon's investment
process
Sourcing
Screening
Due
diligence
Approval
Execution
Sourcing and
origination
In its role as Investment Manager to the Company,
Pantheon is responsible for the sourcing and execution of
transactions on behalf of PINT.
The Investment Manager's sourcing leads to a wide
array of investment opportunities as Sponsors embrace new
transaction models and co-investment appetite from investors
increases. Pantheon's primary relationships and network of Sponsors
allow it to be a preferred co-investor, screening a high volume of
proprietary transactions. Pantheon's ability to work with partners
to provide capital solutions in complex scenarios is expected to
continue to generate differentiated deal flow and allow it to
acquire high-quality and difficult‑to‑access assets for the
Company's portfolio and other Pantheon clients.
Co-investment capital makes up a sizeable portion of
the infrastructure investment universe, and Pantheon continues to
see strong deal flow, with continued signs of growth. This is
driven by Sponsors continuing to see the wider franchise benefit in
offering their trusted partners co-investment deal flow, and in
particular due to such Sponsors being constrained by fund
concentration limits. Such limits may restrict the volume of
capital many Sponsors can invest from their funds in larger
transactions, potentially restricting their access to many deals
unless they have access to additional co-investment capital.
Global sourcing and
rigorous screening with highly selective conversion rate
Pantheon's
infrastructure co-investment deal funnel, 2015-2023
Deals screened
|
$88bn
|
863 deals
|
Advanced diligence
|
$8bn
|
82 deals
|
5% conversion rate
|
Closed
|
$4.3bn
|
52 deals
|
Pantheon: annual
infrastructure co-investments screened ($bn):
2015 4
2016 5
2017 5
2018 8
2019 10
2020 14
2021 12
2022 12
2023 18
CAGR 22%
Screening
Screening is the first of three stages of the Pantheon
investment due diligence and approval process. This stage involves
preliminary due diligence of the opportunity, which includes:
·
assessing the deal fit to fund strategy;
·
review potential returns profile;
·
explore risk factors;
·
determine manager track record;
·
understand transaction dynamics and sponsor alignment;
and
·
conduct fund/company overview.
Reasons to
decline
·
Poor-quality assets
·
Business/firm franchise issue
·
Lack of coverage
·
Overly competitive process
·
Limited Pantheon edge
·
Poor fit with portfolio strategy
· ESG
considerations
Due diligence and
underwriting
After Screening, due diligence will be undertaken as
part of the "Advanced Notice" stage, including:
·
review financial model and underlying assumptions;
·
review internal and company databases;
·
evaluate macro trends and sector themes/outlook and review
compatibility with assumptions; and
·
identify risks and mitigants.
Reasons to
decline
·
High debt levels
·
High purchase price
·
Commodity price risk
·
Concentration risk
·
Quality of assets/Sponsors
·
Lack of embedded value
·
Pricing disconnect
If a deal is approved at Advanced Notice stage, it
will proceed to the final investment committee stage, Investment
Thesis. Transactional and due diligence work undertaken ahead of
this includes:
·
benchmark performance;
·
extensive asset due diligence;
·
assess downside protection;
·
finalise financial model;
·
onsite manager visits;
· ESG
and climate change risk assessment;
· tax
due diligence;
·
conduct background checks/reference calls; and
·
complete "Investment Thesis" for submission to Global
Infrastructure & Real Assets Committee (GIRAC).
Reasons to
decline
·
Legal considerations
·
Limited downside protection
·
Inconclusive references
·
Weak governance
· ESG
considerations
For co‑investments, the
Company is typically entering the acquisition at the same time as
the Sponsor who sets the valuation and enters at the same price,
creating alignment with the Company. The Sponsor provides its
valuation assumptions for the target asset and the Investment
Manager will seek to verify them, and either enter the deal at the
same return target as the Sponsor, or take a more conservative view
on some of the valuation assumptions which may result in a lower
base case return target. This process involves the Investment
Manager conducting its own independent review of the valuation
assumptions which includes, but is not limited to, the following
analysis as part of the Investment Thesis:
·
review of all due diligence material available, including
technical, market, legal, financial and tax, usually prepared by
third-party independent consultants. Assumptions for the valuation
are driven from these reports;
·
consult with external market contacts to verify key
assumptions;
·
review financial model driving the valuation; and
·
conduct downside and upside sensitivities to prepare a Pantheon
base case that still meets relevant return requirements.
The base case prepared during the investment process
forms the basis of the final Investment Thesis. The investment
return targets can be attributed to several key components of a
target business, which may include:
·
existing business: returns
from the profitability of the target's existing
assets/contracts.
·
organic growth: returns
derived from initiatives to greater utilise existing
infrastructure, such as leasing further antennae capacity on an
existing tower installation or supplying other energy products to
existing clients of a district heating business.
·
growth capital: returns
generated from capital expenditure initiatives, taking the form of
expanding and/or upgrading existing or developing new
infrastructure. Such initiatives will depend on the target
company's ability to source and execute on a pipeline of growth
opportunities.
·
capital structure: returns
generated from optimising the target's debt structure in tandem
with its growth trajectory.
·
M&A activity: returns
generated from the increased scale and efficiencies achieved
through bolt-on acquisition activity.
·
operational efficiencies:
increased returns generated from reduced operating costs achievable
through greater business scale.
·
multiple expansion: returns
generated from delivering an exit at an increased earnings multiple
relative to the initial entry valuation. An increased exit multiple
would be in keeping with the expectations to both increase the
scale of the target as well as reducing the risk profile over
time.
The expected holding period for each co-investment is
typically between five to seven years, however this does not
form the basis of any guaranteed exit timing or method from the
Sponsor. The final timing of a co-investment exit will be a
function of business performance and economic conditions, and
accordingly this is sensitised during the underwriting process to
ensure any delays will not materially compromise expected
returns.
Several key financial metrics are used for analytical
purposes, including internal rate of return (IRR) and multiple on
invested capital (MOIC). IRR is the annual rate of growth that an
investment is expected to generate over its life, and MOIC measures
investment returns by comparing the total realised value of an
investment at the exit date relative to the initial investment
amount. The illustrative bridge chart below demonstrates the
contributions to expected returns of certain assumptions in a
typical private market infrastructure co‑investment transaction.
Approval and
execution
The final path approval of a deal includes:
·
Presentation of final Investment Thesis
·
Approval by GIRAC
·
Allocation between Pantheon clients in line with investment
allocation policy
·
Funding ringfenced pending completion
For chart showing Illustrative MOIC composition please
see page 55 of the Annual Report and Accounts.
Once a deal has been approved, it will move to legal
closing and execution, which involves:
·
Optimising deal structure
·
Review and negotiate agreements
·
Finalise reporting requirements
·
Negotiate preferential terms and rights
·
Execute transfer and payments
·
Implement hedging initiatives
The Company invests
in infrastructure assets typically through a co‑investment programme.
Valuations
The Company invests in infrastructure assets typically
through a co-investment programme. In a typical co‑investment the Company partakes in the investment
alongside a lead investor or a Sponsor. The Sponsor will
typically set up a co-investment vehicle, subject to annual
statutory audits, that invests in the underlying infrastructure
investment and will issue a NAV and capital accounts on a
quarterly basis.
The Sponsor will usually own the majority of equity
and have significant or controlling influence in the asset.
Accordingly, Pantheon considers the Sponsor to be the responsible
party for preparing the valuation on behalf of the co-investment
vehicle, and will largely rely upon the valuations prepared by the
Sponsor that have been prepared in-line with relevant accounting
standards and IPEV guidelines.
In private market investing, the Sponsor is usually
considered to be the best party to determine the appropriate
valuation due to the following:
·
intimate knowledge of the underlying infrastructure asset held in
the SPV and its business financials and the fundamental business
environment in which it operates;
·
knowledge of the market environment in which transactions
of comparable companies take place; and
· the
Company's economic interest in an investment as
a co‑investor is aligned with
that of the Sponsor.
In private market transactions, the purchase cost of
the investment is an indication of its initial fair value and is
thereafter calibrated for subsequent events and changes in
valuation inputs. Infrastructure assets often display particular
characteristics allowing long-term financial forecasts to be
prepared, which tends to result in a high prevalence of the use of
DCF methodology in the valuation.
In such cases, fair value is estimated by
deriving the present value of the expected cash flows generated by
the investment through the use of reasonable assumptions such as
appropriate discount rates to reflect the inherent risk of the
assets forming the investment.
Valuation
governance
Pantheon operates a valuation committee, which is
independent of the investment and investor relations teams, which
ensures that there are robust governance, oversight and process
frameworks in place, guaranteeing compliance with standards and
consistent application of policy.
The valuation committee reviews and challenges the
valuations provided by the Sponsors and reviews the accounting
policies and valuations methodologies applied. The valuation
committee has responsibility for approving investment valuations
which determine the fair value of the Portfolio, with input from
the investment team who are responsible for managing the
Portfolio.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
The Company seeks to
generate attractive risk‑adjusted total
returns for shareholders over the long term, comprising both
capital growth and a progressive dividend.
Through the acquisition of equity or
equity‑related investments, PINT offers a
diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets with a primary
focus on developed OECD markets.
Total
returns:
Diversification
Global portfolio with exposure to regions, sectors and
sourcing partners and the ability to tilt the Portfolio over time
to the best risk/return opportunities.
Capturing
long‑term growth
Exposure to growth dynamics within infrastructure
sub‑sectors including the transition to a
net zero carbon economy and the digitalisation of social and
economic activity.
Resilient
cash flow assets
Emphasis on direct infrastructure assets with
substantial contracted cash flows and conservative leverage creates
a portfolio with downside protection.
Value‑creation
opportunities
Assets where added value can be created through
operational optimisation, incremental expansion of a platform or
industry consolidation, utilising the skill set and track record of
Sponsors.
Inflation
protection
Natural hedge against rising inflation with certain
assets benefiting from inflation protection.
Strong ESG
characteristics
Robust asset and Sponsor ESG risk assessment through
due diligence, ongoing asset monitoring and exclusion of
high‑risk ESG sectors from the strategy,
including coal, oil, gas (upstream), mining and nuclear.
RESPONSIBLE INVESTING AND ESG
An enhanced approach
to responsible investing
The Board of PINT recognises that a focus on
environmental, social and governance (ESG) is an important tool for
risk mitigation and can lead to value creation across the
investment portfolio.
Adherence to ESG principles has been incorporated in
Pantheon's pre and post-investment processes for many years and the
Investment Manager will continue to play an influential role in
promoting ESG standards and diversity and inclusion in private
markets.
The Directors of PINT have full oversight of ESG
matters within PINT's portfolio and fully support Pantheon's
long-standing commitment in this area.
Investing responsibly in infrastructure is central to
PINT's business model. Sound ESG practices and operating
sustainably are integral to building a resilient infrastructure
business and creating long-term value for our shareholders and
other stakeholders.
PINT is classified as Article 8 under the European
Union's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). To
support its promoted environmental/social characteristics, PINT has
adopted an investment policy which restricts investments in
specific excluded sectors, i.e. coal (including coal-fired
generation, transportation and mining), oil (including upstream,
midstream and storage), upstream gas, nuclear energy and
mining.
PINT's Board is ultimately responsible for its
sustainability and established its ESG & Sustainability
Committee in July 2023 to oversee and review its ESG &
Sustainability Policy, which can be found on PINT's website
(www.pantheoninfrastructure.com). The
Committee is chaired by Ms Finegan, an independent Non-Executive
Director, and consists of PINT's Board members along with
Pantheon's Global Head of ESG. Full biographies of the Board
Committee members can be found below and on pages 74 to 75 of the
full Annual Report and Accounts.
Looking ahead, the Company is aiming to improve data
collection, resulting in increased disclosures with the aim of
improving ESG performance of investments. The focus over the next
year will be very much on engagement with suppliers and Sponsors to
develop data collection and disclosure in relation to Scope 1, 2
and 3 emissions and climate risk assessments.
As Investment Manager, Pantheon is tasked with
delivering this ESG and Sustainability Policy day-to-day.
Pantheon's group-wide Sustainability Policy can
be found on Pantheon's website (www.pantheon.com). It's objective is to
ensure that material ESG considerations are appropriately reflected
in Pantheon's pre and post-investment processes.
Pantheon is rigorous in assessing and managing
sustainability-related risks in its managed portfolio and
identifying opportunities. Pantheon believes this is crucial to
harnessing the potential for value creation, as well as in
protecting the interests and reputations of its firm and
clients.
Equally, Pantheon is experienced in actively seeking
investments in opportunities arising from the development of
solutions to global sustainability challenges. These
long‑term trends are aligned with PINT's
strategy and investment mandate.
Pantheon has deeply embedded ESG considerations into
its investment processes, from the initial screening of
opportunities, through due diligence and engagement and
post-investment monitoring.
Pantheon's focus recently has been on enhancing its
screening and due diligence on deals from an ESG perspective.
Pantheon has introduced a new approach to ESG called TIES - which
stands for Transparency, Integration, Engagement and Solutions - as
this encapsulates the strong ties between Pantheon, the Sponsors
and the Portfolio Companies. As part of this, Pantheon recently
developed a proprietary ESG due diligence scorecard, incorporating
a range of topics including climate risk, reputational risk,
diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and biodiversity.
PINT's focus on co-investments provides the Investment
Manager with more control over ESG and enables Pantheon to
undertake ESG due diligence on Portfolio companies prior
to investing.
Pantheon is committed to advocating for ESG practices
across the infrastructure industry through its participation in a
variety of industry initiatives and by using its position on
advisory boards worldwide to promote high ESG standards on behalf
of PINT among Sponsors and investee companies.
Pantheon
TIES
Transparency
Enhanced transparency through improved
ESG practices
Integration
Integration of ESG screening, due diligence
and monitoring
Engagement
Consistent Sponsor, industry and investor
engagement leads to improved ESG outcomes
Solutions
Developing Pantheon's capability to offer solutions
that meet investors' ESG
and sustainability requirements
Pantheon's enhanced
ESG framework
Screening
|
Due
diligence
|
Monitoring/engagement
|
Reporting
|
ESG screening process
applied to all investment opportunities
|
ESG scorecard used to
assess:
1. Private markets manager
2. Private markets fund
3. Single-company deal
4. Multi-company deal
|
Monitoring:
1. Private markets manager data
collection
2. Portfolio Company data collection
Engagement:
1. Private markets manager: targeted
engagement based on scorecard
2. Industry: advocate for ESG best
practice through industry trade bodies
|
Focusing efforts on standardised ESG reporting
templates to align with:
1. SFDR metrics
2. ESG Data Convergence Initiative
metrics
3. Task Force on Climate-related
Financial Disclosure requirements
|
In
practice
Integrated into ESG due diligence scorecard
|
In
practice
ESG due diligence scoreboard output included in
investment committee memos
|
In
practice
Enhancing ESG data collection systems
|
During the period, PINT's 2022 sustainability report
was released, which included detailed climate risk disclosures,
guided by the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related
Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The sustainability report set out how
climate-related risks are integrated into PINT's governance,
strategy, risk management and metrics and targets.
The Company looks forward to sharing PINT's 2023
sustainability report, which will incorporate more detailed
reporting in accordance with the TCFD recommendations. The table
below illustrates the progress made to date.
Area
|
Disclosures
|
Reference
|
Summary of
progress
|
Governance
|
a) Describe the Board's oversight of
climate‑related risks and opportunities
b) Describe management's role in assessing and
managing climate-related risks and opportunities
|
·
Corporate governance: page 79 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts
·
Investment process: above and page 52 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts
·
Responsible investing & ESG: above and page 58 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts
· ESG
& Sustainability Committee: page 94 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts
|
·
PINT's Board is ultimately responsible for its sustainability, and
formally established its ESG & Sustainability Committee in July
2023 to oversee and review these activities as set out in the ESG
and Sustainability Policy. PINT is committed to sustainability
throughout its supply chain. The appointment of third parties is
overseen by the PINT Board and reviewed annually at the Management
Engagement Committee.
·
Pantheon executes PINT's strategy, makes investment decisions,
monitors climate-related performance and reports to the Board on
progress.
|
Strategy
|
a) Describe the climate-related risks and
opportunities the organisation has identified over the short,
medium and long term
b) Describe the impact of climate‑related risks and opportunities on the organisation's
businesses, strategy and financial planning
c) Describe the resilience of the organisation's
strategy, taking into consideration different climate-related
scenarios, including a 2°C or lower scenario
|
·
Chair's statement: above and page 8 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts
· Our
market: above and page 42 of the full Annual Report and
Accounts
·
Investment strategy: above and page 57 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts
·
Principal risks and uncertainties: below and page 68 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts
·
Viability statement: below and page 72 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts
|
·
PINT will not invest in infrastructure assets whose principal
operations are in:
·
Coal (including coal-fired generation, transportation and
mining)
· Oil
(including upstream, midstream and storage)
·
Upstream gas
·
Nuclear energy
·
Mining
·
Following climate risk assessments in 2022, the
impact of climate related drivers associated with both changing
climatic conditions and the transition to a low carbon economy have
been considered. Pantheon has engaged an external consultant to
enable a more granular assessment of these risks.
|
Risk
management
|
a) Describe the organisation's processes for
identifying and assessing climate-related risks
b) Describe the organisation's processes for managing
climate‑related risks
c) Describe how processes for identifying, assessing
and managing climate-related risks are integrated into the
organisation's overall risk management
|
·
Principal risks and uncertainties: below and page 68 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts
|
· The
Company has a comprehensive risk and governance framework to ensure
all risks, including ESG and climate‑related risks, are monitored and managed with due care
and diligence
· The
Board exercises oversight of this framework, through its Audit and
Risk Committee, and ESG risks and opportunities are additionally
considered by the ESG & Sustainability Committee
·
Based on the results of Pantheon's scenario analysis assessment,
100% of PINT's portfolio is expected to see a neutral or positive
transition impact. 87% of PINT's portfolio present an opportunity
in the transition.
|
Metrics and
targets
|
a) Disclose the metrics used by the organisation to
assess climate-related risks and opportunities in line with its
strategy and risk management process
b) Disclose Scope 1, Scope 2, and, if appropriate,
Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the related risks
c) Describe the targets used by the organisation to
manage climate-related risks and opportunities and performance
against targets
|
·
Responsible investing and ESG: above and page 58 of the full Annual
Report and Accounts
|
·
PINT has committed to report certain climate-related metrics, as
set out above and on page 10 of the full Annual Report and Accounts
of its recent Sustainability Report, including:
· GHG
emissions data (tCO2e)
·
Year of emissions
·
Carbon intensity (tCO2e/£m revenue)
·
Carbon footprint (tCO2e/£m NAV)
·
Coverage (% of NAV reported)
· The Company is
in the process of calculating its Scope 1, 2 and relevant Scope 3
emissions for the purposes of its upcoming TCFD reporting.
|
Looking ahead, the Company is aiming to improve data
collection resulting in better disclosures and also improved ESG
performance of investments. We acknowledge that as an investment
company without control of the underlying investee companies, we
are heavily reliant on Pantheon and the Sponsors for the collection
of data and delivery of any ESG objectives.
The focus over the next year will be very much on
engagement with suppliers and Sponsors to develop the
communication, data collection and disclosure. In particular:
1. Data and KPIs - increasing the capture
of ESG data e.g. capturing actual Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions rather
than relying on estimates through increasing engagement with
Sponsors;
2. Disclosures - we will review the TCFD
product report which the Investment Manager is required to publish
in the course of 2024. Additionally, we will monitor and keep up to
date with the development of the TNFD ("Taskforce on Nature-related
Financial Disclosures");
3. Climate risk assessment - Pantheon is
working on enhancing its transparency of climate-related risk
analysis and it assesses each individual investment and
climate-related risks
4. Supplier reporting - as a Company we
are reliant on the service providers we have engaged and intend to
collect more information and data on the ESG focussed policies they
have in place, as well as monitoring compliance reporting, with the
aim of disclosing this information in the sustainability
report.
S172(1) Statement
The overarching duty
of the Directors is to act in good faith and in a way that is most
likely to promote the success of the Company, as set out in section
172 of the Companies Act 2006 ('the Act').
Directors'
duties
Overview
The Directors must take into consideration the
interests of the various stakeholders of the Company, the impact
the Company has on the community and the environment, take a
long‑term view on the consequences of the
decisions they make, and aim to maintain a reputation for high
standards of business conduct and fair treatment between the
members of the Company. Fulfilling this duty supports the Company
in achieving its investment strategy and making decisions in a
responsible and sustainable way.
During the year, the Directors consider, in good
faith, that they have acted in a way that would most likely promote
the long-term success of PINT for the benefit of its members as a
whole, with due regard to the likely consequences of any decisions
in the long term, as well as the interests of shareholders and
other stakeholders, as required by the Act. Below, the Directors
explain how they discharged these duties.
Stakeholders and long-term
decisions
PINT is an externally managed investment company and
does not have any employees or customers. Its key stakeholders are
its shareholders, the Investment Manager, Sponsors, Portfolio
Companies, service providers, lenders and regulators. The Board
considers the feedback from, and views of, PINT's stakeholders at
every Board meeting, and all discussions involve careful
consideration of the longer‑term
consequences of any decisions and their impact on stakeholders.
Overleaf, we describe how we engage with our stakeholders to
understand their views, how they are affected by the Board's
decisions, how their feedback shapes decisions, and any outcomes.
We also explain how PINT fosters business relationships with
suppliers, customers and others, and maintains a reputation for
high standards of business conduct. PINT's impact on the
environment, and how PINT and the Investment Manager approach ESG,
is explained in detail above and on pages 58 to 62 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts.
Shareholders
|
Importance
Holding PINT's shares offers investors a liquid
investment vehicle through which they can obtain exposure to PINT's
portfolio of infrastructure investments, therefore, continued
shareholder support and engagement are critical to the business and
the delivery of PINT's long‑term
strategy.
|
Board
engagement
The Board is committed to maintaining open channels of
communication and to engaging with shareholders in a way they find
most meaningful, these include:
·
AGM
The Company will hold its second AGM on 20 June 2024
and welcomes and encourages shareholders to participate in the
meeting. Shareholders will have the opportunity to meet the
Directors and the Investment Manager, ask questions and provide us
with feedback. The Board values the feedback and questions it
receives and takes action or makes changes, as and when
appropriate.
·
Publications
The annual report and half‑year reports are an opportunity for PINT to provide
information and updates on the Company's business model, strategy,
portfolio and financial position. Feedback and/or questions PINT
receives from shareholders help the Company to evolve its
reporting, aiming to render the reports and updates more
transparent and understandable.
·
Shareholder meetings
The Chair, the Board and Pantheon meet with
shareholders throughout the year; the Investment Manager holds
presentations for institutional investors and analysts, and all
shareholders are invited to join PINT's capital markets day. The
Company always responds to communications from shareholders, and
anyone wishing to communicate directly with the Board can contact
the Company Secretary at: pintcosec@linkgroup.co.uk or by writing
to PINT's registered office. Feedback from all meetings with
shareholders is shared and discussed with the Board and taken into
account when taking decisions (examples are included below and on
page 67 of the full Annual Report and Accounts).
·
Shareholder concerns
In the event that shareholders wish to raise issues
or concerns, they are welcome to do so at any time by writing to
the Chair or the SID at PINT's registered office. All Board members
are also available to shareholders if they have concerns or
questions.
·
Investor relations
updates
At every Board meeting, the Directors receive updates
from the Investment Manager and the Company's broker on the
Company's trading activity and share price performance, especially
during periods when PINT's shares are trading at a discount.
|
The Investment
Manager
|
Importance
The Investment Manager's performance is critical for
the Company to deliver its investment strategy successfully and
meet its objective of providing shareholders with attractive and
consistent returns over the long term.
|
Board
engagement
Maintaining a close and constructive working
relationship with the Investment Manager is crucial as the Board
and the Investment Manager both aim to achieve consistent,
long‑term returns in line with the
Company's investment strategy. Important components in the
collaboration with the Investment Manager, representative of the
Company's culture, are:
·
encouraging an open discussion with the Investment Manager,
including adopting a tone of constructive challenge;
· the
interests of the Company, shareholders and the Investment Manager
are, for the most part, well aligned, and recognising any instances
where that might change;
·
thorough review of the Investment Manager's performance, including
adherence to the investment policy and strategy, and considering
the terms of engagement;
·
drawing on Directors' individual experience and knowledge to
support and challenge the Investment Manager in its monitoring of
Portfolio Companies and engagement with Sponsors; and
·
willingness to make the Directors' experience available to support
the Investment Manager in the long‑term
development of its business, recognising that the long‑term health of the Investment Manager's business is in
the interests of shareholders in the Company.
|
Sponsors/Portfolio
Companies
|
Importance
PINT's investment strategy is focused on backing
Sponsors who create sustainable value in the underlying Portfolio
Companies. The Investment Manager has extensive networks and
relationships with Sponsors globally, which gives the Company
access to attractive investment
opportunities.
|
Board
engagement
The Board receives updates at each scheduled Board
meeting from the Investment Manager on specific investments,
including regular valuation reports and detailed portfolio and
returns analyses. The Board also makes an active effort to better
understand the Portfolio Companies, and in 2023, the Directors
undertook a site visit to Alhama de Murcia, headquarters of
Primafrio, a European leader in logistics and transport of
temperature-controlled goods. More details of Pantheon's engagement
with Sponsors and due diligence of Portfolio Companies through the
investment process and its investment strategies can be found above
and on pages 52 to 55 of the full Annual Report and Accounts and in
the Investment Manager's report. Pantheon engages with Sponsors on
a day‑to‑day basis.
Details of how Pantheon carries out portfolio management, as well
as information on how Sponsors consistently transform companies to
create long‑term value, can be found in the
Investment Manager's report above and on pages 12 to 18 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts.
|
The Administrator,
the Company Secretary, the Registrar, the Depositary and the
Broker
|
Importance
In order to function as an investment trust with a
premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, the Company relies on
a diverse range of advisers for support in meeting all its relevant
obligations.
|
Board
engagement
The Board maintains regular contact with its key
external providers and receives regular reports from them, both
through Board and Committee meetings, as well as outside the
regular meeting cycle. Their advice, as well as their needs and
views, are routinely taken into account. The Board (through the
Management Engagement Committee) formally assesses the performance,
fees and continuing appointment of key service providers to ensure
that they continue to function at an acceptable level and are
appropriately remunerated to deliver the expected level of
service.
|
The environment and
society
|
Importance
The Board of PINT believes that sound ESG practices
and operating sustainably are integral to building a resilient
infrastructure business and creating long-term value for our
shareholders and other stakeholders. Investing responsibly in
infrastructure is central to PINT's
business model.
|
Board
engagement
The Board (through the ESG & Sustainability
Committee) works closely with Pantheon and, despite the fact that
its level of control over investments is limited, seeks, through
its Investment Manager and the Sponsors, to encourage and influence
investee companies to improve their ESG performance.
Full details of the Investment Manager's approach to
ESG can be found above and on pages 58 to 62 of the full Annual
Report and Accounts . Details of the activities of the Company's
ESG & Sustainability Committee can be found on pages 94 to 95
of the full Annual Report and Accounts , and PINT's inaugural
Sustainability Report for 2022 can be accessed on PINT's website
at www.pantheoninfrastructure.com.
|
Lenders
|
Importance
Availability of funding is crucial to PINT's ability
to take advantage of investment opportunities as they arise, as
well as to meet any future unfunded commitments.
|
Board
engagement
During the year, the Board decided to increase the RCF
and engaged regularly with the Investment Manager throughout the
process. More details on the RCF increase can be found above and on
page 33 of the full Annual Report and Accounts . The Company
aims to demonstrate to its facility providers, Lloyds and RBSI,
that it is a well‑managed business, capable
of consistently delivering long‑term
returns. Regular dialogue between the Investment Manager and
lenders is crucial to supporting the Company's relationship with
them.
|
Regulators
|
Importance
The Company can only operate as an investment trust
and a premium listed company if it conducts its affairs in
compliance with applicable rules and regulations. Regulators such
as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial
Reporting Council (FRC) have a legitimate interest in how PINT
operates in the market and treats its
shareholders.
|
Board
engagement
The Board regularly considers how it meets various
regulatory and statutory obligations and how any governance
decisions it makes can have an impact on its stakeholders, both in
the shorter and in the longer term. The Board receives reports from
its third-party providers, including the Investment Manager and the
Company Secretary, on the Company's compliance and considers any
inspections or reviews that are commissioned by regulatory
bodies.
|
The mechanisms for engaging with stakeholders are kept
under review by the Directors and are discussed on a regular basis
at Board meetings to ensure that they remain effective.
Examples of the Board's principal decisions during the
year, how the Board fulfilled its duties under section 172, and the
related engagement activities, are set out below:
Principal
decision
|
Long‑term impact
|
Stakeholder
considerations
and
engagement
|
Outcome
|
Increase in the RCF
|
In line with its agreed approach to balance sheet
management, PINT increased its multi-currency RCF during the year.
This provides additional flexibility to manage PINT's balance sheet
to support continued NAV growth.
|
Effective engagement with Lloyds and RBSI was key to
agreeing the increase to the facility. The Board considers that the
additional liquidity available for working capital, and to support
further investments in high‑quality
infrastructure assets from PINT's near‑term
investment pipeline, will help support the Company's growth while
also maintaining a robust balance sheet.
|
Following extensive discussions by the Board
throughout the period, on 7 June 2023 PINT announced that it
had agreed an increase to its multi‑currency RCF of £52.5 million for an aggregate
commitment of £115 million with Lloyds and RBSI.
|
Establishing a share buyback programme
|
When the Company's share price trades at a material
discount to NAV, the Board considers that share price to undervalue
PINT's portfolio and prospects.
|
The Directors considered a number of factors when
debating the introduction of a buyback programme, including the
availability of funding; current investment opportunities; market
conditions; and the likely impact on future NAV growth. The Board
made its decision following hearing the views of, and feedback
from, shareholders, as well as the advice of our broker and the
Manager, because the Board believes that seeking to address the
discount is important to the Company and our investors.
|
On 31 March 2023 the Company announced the
commencement of a share buyback programme up to a total
consideration of £10 million. By the end of December 2023, the
Company had purchased over 7 million shares.
|
|
The Board considers that, in some circumstances, share
buybacks can be an attractive use of capital, which can be balanced
with retaining sufficient capital to access the attractive pipeline
of investment opportunities.
|
|
|
Establishing an ESG & Sustainability Committee
|
Sub-committees of the Board enable greater focus to be
provided to areas judged to be of importance to the
long‑term success of the Company.
|
The Board recognises the importance of ESG to our
shareholders and other stakeholders. Based on feedback from
investors, and given the Directors' appetite and keen focus on ESG,
the Board decided that a dedicated Committee would be a more
suitable approach of overseeing ESG matters.
|
On 10 July 2023 the Board formally established an ESG
& Sustainability Committee of the Company, chaired by Ms
Finegan. The report from the Committee can be found on page 94 of
the full Annual Report and Accounts.
|
PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES
Integrity,
objectivity and accountability are embedded in the Company's
approach to risk management.
Patrick O'Donnell
Bourke
Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
The Company is exposed to a variety of risks and
uncertainties and the Board is ultimately responsible for the risk
management of the Company. It seeks to achieve an appropriate
balance between mitigating risk and generating long-term
sustainable risk-adjusted returns for shareholders. Integrity,
objectivity and accountability are embedded in the Company's
approach to risk management. The Board exercises oversight of the
risk framework, through its Audit and Risk Committee, and has
undertaken a robust assessment and review of the principal risks
facing the Company, including those that would threaten its
business model, future performance, solvency or liquidity.
The Company is reliant on the risk management
frameworks of the Investment Manager and other key service
providers, as well as on the risk management operations of each
Portfolio Company. The Board manages risks through reports from the
Investment Manager and other service providers and through regular
updates on the operational and financial performance of Portfolio
Companies.
For each risk, and for emerging risks, the likelihood
and consequences are identified, and the management controls and
frequency of monitoring are confirmed and reviewed during Audit and
Risk Committee meetings. Please see below a summary of the
principal risks and their mitigation.
Risk management
procedure
Risk appetite
Risk identification and assessment
Control and mitigation
Monitoring and reporting
RISK
|
DESCRIPTION OF
RISK
|
MITIGATION
|
Market
conditions
Higher
|
·
Macroeconomic or market volatility, as the result of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, presents a
significant threat to the global economy, resulting in a potential
combination of high inflation, interest rates and uncertain supply
chains, which flows through to pricing, valuations and Portfolio
performance.
·
Change in foreign exchange rates may affect the value of the
Company's investments.
·
Recession in Europe, the US or the UK could impact the growth
prospects of one or more of the Portfolio Companies.
·
Rising inflation and interest rates may lead to higher financing
costs for a Portfolio Company, which could adversely impact
its profits.
·
Discount rates used in the valuation of investments may need to
increase in line with the interest rate environment.
|
· The
Company targets a diversified infrastructure programme with
exposures across sectors and geographies; historically,
infrastructure sub‑sectors have exhibited
low to moderate correlation of returns relative to one another.
· The
Company monitors the impact of geopolitical trends on the overall
Portfolio as well as on individual sectors and companies.
· The
Company has a foreign exchange hedging programme in place.
·
Portfolio Companies could put in place inflation protection by
seeking to include inflation adjustment mechanisms in their
contracts.
·
Certain Portfolio assets already provide inflation protection via
contracted revenues linked to inflation.
·
Portfolio Companies could also put in place interest rate
hedges.
·
Discount rates are reviewed regularly as part of quarterly
valuations.
|
Political and
regulatory changes
Level
|
·
Political actions and regulatory changes may adversely impact the
operating and revenue structure of Portfolio Companies.
·
Complexity of government regulatory standards may result in
litigation/disputes over interpretation and enforceability.
|
· The
Company predominantly targets investments in North America, Europe
and Australasia which have broadly stable legal, political and
regulatory regimes.
· The
Investment Manager conducts due diligence on the regulatory risks
of a prospective Portfolio Company to ensure protections in the
underlying contracts are in place.
|
Operational
performance
Level
|
· A
fall in demand for the Portfolio Companies' services or products or
an increase in their input costs. A Portfolio Company's revenue is
exposed to market supply and demand forces. Falls in demand or cost
increases that are respectively below or above the levels used in
underlying valuation assumptions could lead to adverse financial
performance of the Portfolio Company.
|
· The
Investment Manager conducts sensitivity analysis and demand stress
testing in its due diligence for assets.
· The
Company co-invests alongside experienced Sponsors who work closely
with the management teams of each Portfolio Company.
· The
investment strategy is to target assets that have the majority of
their cash flows protected through contractual structures, which
limits demand risk.
|
Returns
target
Level
|
· The
Company may not meet its investment objective; this could result in
returns being materially lower than targeted and dissatisfied
investors.
|
· The
Investment Manager adheres to the investment policy and criteria
when making investment decisions.
· The
Board reviews the investment performance of the Company on a
quarterly basis to ensure adherence to the investment policy.
|
Investor
sentiment
Higher
|
· The
Company's share price has fallen below its NAV, which is currently
preventing new equity capital raises. An inability to raise new
equity capital is inhibitive to scaling the Portfolio.
|
·
Alternative forms of capital such as debt can be considered.
·
Opportunistic sale of targeted existing assets.
· The
Company has put in place a share buyback programme and has been
buying back shares.
· The
Investment Manager constantly targets new shareholders.
|
Lack of suitable
investment opportunities
Level
|
·
Unavailability of appropriate investments to acquire due to
unfavourable deal terms.
·
Re‑investment risk which could arise from
delayed redeployment of any proceeds from the sale of assets.
|
· The
Board reviews investment guidelines and will make appropriate
recommendations to shareholders if it believes changes are
needed.
· The
Investment Manager seeks to continue actively sourcing appropriate
investments by engaging with Sponsors and negotiate co‑investment rights when committing capital to the
Sponsors' underlying funds.
· The
demand and need for infrastructure should ensure continuing deal
flow.
|
Liquidity management,
including level and cost of debt
Level
|
·
Failure to manage the Company's liquidity position, including cash
and credit facilities, could result in insufficient liquidity to
pay dividends and operating expenses or to make new or support
existing investments.
·
High levels and cost of debt within the Company and/or the special
purpose vehicles which invest in the Portfolio Companies could
result in covenant breaches and/or increased volatility in the
Company's NAV.
|
·
Regular reporting of current and projected liquidity, under both
normal and stress conditions.
·
Liquidity availability is assessed during the allocation of new
investment opportunities.
· The
Board and Investment Manager review Company debt levels and
covenants, on a quarterly basis, to ensure they stay within the
leverage cap that has been established to limit exposure to
debt‑related risks.
·
Debt levels within Portfolio Companies are reviewed by the
Investment Manager as part of due diligence.
|
Portfolio
concentration risk
Reducing
|
·
Portfolio concentration risk in relation to exposure to individual
assets, operators, geographies and asset types. This could impact
NAV and ultimately affect the Company's targeted rate of
return.
|
· The
Board conducts quarterly reviews of the investment portfolio
against the Company's investment policy and criteria.
·
Investment restrictions outlined in the investment policy are
designed to reduce portfolio concentration risk.
· The
Company currently has a balanced portfolio of 13 investments across
the infrastructure sub-sectors it targets.
|
Investment
Manager
Level
|
· An
over‑reliance on the Investment Manager. A
failure of the Investment Manager to retain or recruit
appropriately qualified personnel, or put in place an appropriate
succession plan, may have a material adverse effect on the
Company's overall performance.
|
· The
Board performs an ongoing review of the Investment Manager's
performance in addition to a formal annual review.
·
Pantheon continues to invest in its talent and regularly considers
succession planning.
|
Tax status and
legislation
Level
|
·
Failure to observe requirements to maintain investment trust tax
status in the UK.
·
Failure to understand tax risks when investing or divesting could
lead to tax exposure or financial loss.
|
· The
Board, through the Company Secretary, ensures that the Company
meets the criteria to maintain the current investment trust status
of the Company.
· The
Board has engaged a third party to provide taxation advice and
Pantheon's investment process incorporates the assessment of
tax.
|
Third‑party providers
Level
|
·
Poor performance by third‑party service
providers could result in an inability to perform key functions
(e.g. reporting, record keeping etc.) effectively. This could
result in loss of Company information, errors in published
information or damage to its
reputation.
|
· The
Board reviews and signs off contractual arrangements with all key
service providers.
· The
Board reviews the performance of key service providers
annually.
|
Cyber
security
Level
|
·
Cyber security risk which could arise from reputational damage from
theft or loss of confidential data through
cyber hacking.
|
· The
Audit and Risk Committee reviews service providers' cyber security
arrangements, controls and business continuity processes to ensure
any data loss is mitigated and reputational damage is
minimised.
|
Climate
change
Level
|
·
Climate change causing physical and transition risks could impact
the financial performance of the Portfolio. Physical risks arising
from extreme weather events could impact the operations of a
Portfolio Company. In addition, transition risk in terms of policy,
legal, technological, market and reputation risks could negatively
impact the operations of the assets.
|
· The
Investment Manager conducts due diligence in relation to climate
change matters before making investment decisions.
· The
Company invests in assets with strong management teams that have a
long track record of actively managing physical risks such as
maintenance schedules.
· The
Company has in place an ESG & Sustainability Policy, including
taking account of sector exclusions.
|
Viability Statement
Period of
assessment
Pursuant to provision 31 of the UK Corporate
Governance Code 2018, and the AIC Code of Corporate Governance, the
Board has assessed the viability of the Company over a
three‑year period from 31 December 2023.
The Directors consider that a three‑year
period to December 2026 is appropriate for assessing the Company's
viability. There is greater predictability of the Company's cash
flows over that time period and increased uncertainty surrounding
economic, political and regulatory changes over the longer
term.
The Company has a diverse Portfolio of infrastructure
investments, expected to produce cash distributions which cover
costs, and eventually expected to cover the Company's dividend
target as the Portfolio matures. The defensive nature of the
Portfolio and of the essential services that the businesses in
which the Company invest provide to their customers, are being
demonstrated in the current climate, with infrastructure assets
providing strong downside protection across market cycles given the
regulated and highly contracted nature of cash flows, which
typically offer strong inflation protection.
Against this background, in making their assessment,
the Directors reviewed the reports of the Investment Manager in
relation to the resilience of the Company, taking account of its
current position, the principal risks facing it in a downside
scenario due to the geopolitical uncertainties as a result of the
Russia-Ukraine conflict, including disruption to the supply chain
and increases in the cost of living as a result of this conflict,
inflationary expectations, interest rate rises and, the impact of
climate change on the Company's portfolio. As discussed in Note 1
to the financial statements, the effectiveness of any mitigating
actions and the Company's risk appetite were also considered as
part of the various downside liquidity scenario modelling carried
out, after which the Directors came to their conclusion as to the
Company's viability over the three year period.
The Investment Manager considers the future cash
requirements of the Company before acquiring or funding investments
in Portfolio Companies. Furthermore, the Board receives regular
updates from the Investment Manager on the Company's cash and debt
position, which allows the Board to maintain its fiduciary
responsibility to the shareholders and, if required, limit funding
for existing commitments.
The Board considered the Company's viability over the
three year period based on a working capital model prepared by the
Investment Manager. The working capital model forecasts key cash
flow drivers such as capital deployment rate, investment returns
and operating expenses. In connection with the preparation of the
working capital model, no capital raises were assumed to occur
during the three‑year period.
The results of stress testing showed that the Company
would be able to withstand the impact of various scenarios
occurring over the three-year period. The Directors also considered
the Company's position with reference to its investment trust
structure, its business model, its business objectives, the
principal risks and uncertainties as detailed above and on pages 69
to 71 of the full Annual Report and Accounts and its present and
projected financial position. As part of the overall assessment,
the Directors took into account the Investment Manager's culture,
which emphasises collaboration and accountability, the Investment
Manager's conservative approach to balance sheet management, and
its emphasis on investing with underlying Sponsors that are focused
on generating outperformance.
To support their statement, the Directors also took
into account the nature of the Company's business, including the
available liquidity, the potential of its portfolio of investments
to generate future income and capital proceeds, and the ability of
the Directors to minimise the level of cash outflows, if necessary.
Based on the above assessment, the Directors have a reasonable
expectation that the Company will be able to continue in operation
and meet its liabilities as they fall due over the three-year
period to December 2026.
On behalf of the Board
Vagn
Sørensen
Chair
2 April 2024
Board of Directors
Vagn
Sørensen
Chair and
Nomination Committee Chair
Appointed to the Board 4 October 2021
Mr Vagn Sørensen is an experienced non‑executive chair and director of listed and private
companies.
After attending Aarhus Business School and graduating
with a MSc degree in Economics and Business Administration,
Mr Sørensen began his career at Scandinavian Airlines Systems
in Sweden, rising through numerous positions in a 17‑year career before becoming Deputy CEO with special
responsibility for Denmark. Between 2001 and 2006, Mr Sørensen
served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Austrian
Airlines Group in Austria, a business with approximately €2.5
billion of turnover, 8,000 employees and listed on the Vienna Stock
Exchange.
Mr Sørensen also served as Chair of the Association of
European Airlines in 2004. Since 1999, Mr Sørensen has been a Tier
1 senior industrial adviser to EQT, a private equity sponsor, and
has been a non‑executive director or Chair
of a number of their Portfolio Companies. Since 2008, Mr Sørensen
has been a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley Investment Bank.
Mr Sørensen is currently Chair of Air Canada (since
2017) and a non‑executive director of CNH
Industrial and Royal Caribbean Cruises. Previous non‑executive appointments have included Chair of SSP
Group (2006-2020), Chair of Scandic Hotels AB (2007‑2018), Chair of TDC A/S (2006‑2017) and Chair of FLSmidth & Co (2009‑2022).
Anne
Baldock
Senior
Independent Director and Chair of the
Remuneration Committee
Appointed to the Board 4 October 2021
Ms Anne Baldock is an experienced board member and
lawyer with over 30 years' experience in the infrastructure
sector.
Ms Baldock graduated in law from the London School of
Economics and was a qualified Solicitor in England and Wales from
1984 to 2012. Ms Baldock was a Partner at Allen & Overy LLP
between 1990 and 2012, during which time she was Managing Partner,
Projects Group London (1995‑2007),
member of the firm's Global/Main Strategic Board
(2000‑2006) and Global Head of Projects,
Energy and Infrastructure (2007‑2012).
Notable transactions included the Second Severn
Crossing, Eurostar, the securitisation of a major UK water utility
and several major PPP projects in the UK and abroad.
Ms Baldock's current roles include Senior Independent
Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for East West
Railway Company Limited (the Government‑owned company constructing the new Oxford to Cambridge
railway) and non‑executive director of
Electricity North West Limited. Ms Baldock also serves as the
Senior Independent Director, as well as Chair of the Remuneration
and Nomination Committees, of the Restoration and Renewal Delivery
Authority Limited (the delivery body created by Parliament to deal
with the restoration of the Houses of Parliament). Among her
previous roles, Anne served as a non‑executive director of Thames Tideway Tunnel,
non‑executive director of Hydrogen Group
(AIM‑listed) and a Trustee of Cancer
Research UK.
Andrea
Finegan
Management
Engagement Committee and ESG & Sustainability Committee
Chair
Appointed to the Board 4 October 2021
Ms Andrea Finegan is an experienced infrastructure
asset management professional with over 30 years of sector
experience.
After graduating from Loughborough University, Ms
Finegan held investment banking roles at Deutsche Bank and Barclays
Capital, before joining Hyder Investments as Head of the Deal
Closing Team. Between 1999 and 2007, Ms Finegan worked at Innisfree
Limited, the investment manager of an £8 billion infrastructure
asset portfolio, latterly as Board Director and Head of Asset
Management. Ms Finegan subsequently served as Chief Operating
Officer, ING Infrastructure Funds and Fund Consultant to Climate
Change Capital.
In 2012 Ms Finegan joined Greencoat Capital LLP for
the set up and launch of Greencoat UK Wind Plc, the renewable
infrastructure investment trust, then, in 2013, became Chief
Operating Officer until 2018, a position that included structuring
and launching another renewable energy infrastructure fund listed
on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Dublin (Greencoat
Renewables Plc) and a number of private markets solar energy
funds.
Ms Finegan is currently Chair of the Valuation
Committee of Schroders Greencoat LLP, a role she has held since
2015, and independent consultant to the board of Sequoia Economic
Infrastructure Income Fund Limited, working closely with the ESG
& Stakeholder Committee and the Risk Committee.
Patrick O'Donnell
Bourke
Audit and
Risk Committee Chair
Appointed to the Board 4 October 2021
Mr Patrick O'Donnell Bourke is an experienced board
member with more than 28 years of experience in energy and
infrastructure.
After graduating from Cambridge University, Mr
O'Donnell Bourke started his career at Peat Marwick, Chartered
Accountants (now KPMG) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
After that he held a variety of investment banking positions at
Hill Samuel and Barclays de Zoete Wedd. In 1995, he joined
Powergen Plc, where he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions
before becoming Group Treasurer. In 2000, Mr O'Donnell Bourke
joined Viridian Group Plc as Group Finance Director and later
became Chief Executive, appointed by the private equity shareholder
following take‑over in 2006.
In 2011, he joined John Laing Group, a
specialist international investor in, and manager of, greenfield
infrastructure assets where he served as CFO until his retirement
in 2019. While at John Laing, he was part of the team which
launched the John Laing Environmental Assets Fund on the London
Stock Exchange in 2014.
Mr O'Donnell Bourke currently serves as Chair of
Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure Trust Plc and as Chair of the
Audit Committee of Harworth Group Plc (a leading UK regenerator of
land and property for development and investment).
Mr O'Donnell Bourke was previously Chair of the Audit and Risk
Committee at Calisen Plc (an owner and operator of smart meters in
the UK) and Chair of the Audit Committee at Affinity
Water.
Extracts from the Directors' report
Share capital and
voting rights
The rights attaching to the Company's shares are set
out in the Company's Articles of Association. Further details can
be found in Note 16 of the financial statements. As at
31 December 2023 and as at the date of this report, the
Company's share capital is as follows:
|
|
|
|
Total number
|
|
|
|
|
of shares in
|
|
Number of
|
Voting rights
|
Number of
|
issue (including
|
Share capital and
voting rights
|
shares in circulation
|
attached to each share
|
shares held in treasury
|
shares held in treasury)
|
As at 31 December 2023
|
472,615,000
|
1
|
7,385,000
|
480,000,000
|
As at 2 April 2024
|
469,550,000
|
1
|
10,450,000
|
480,000,000
|
There are no restrictions on the free transferability
of the shares, subject to compliance with applicable securities
laws and provisions in the Articles entitling the Board to decline
to register certain transfers in a limited number of circumstances,
such as where the transfer might cause the Company to be subject to
or operate in accordance with applicable US laws. The powers of the
Directors are detailed in the Company's Articles and are subject to
relevant legislation and, in certain circumstances (including in
relation to the issuing or buying back the Company of its shares),
are subject to the authority being given to the Directors by PINT's
shareholders.
Prior to the Company's listing on 13 October 2021, in
accordance with the Articles the Directors were authorised to allot
up to a maximum of two billion Ordinary and/or C Shares and to
disapply pre‑emption rights in respect of
those Ordinary and/or C shares, with the authority expiring on 13
October 2024. To date, no shares have been allotted under this
authority, and the Directors propose to replace this authority with
a general authority to allot new shares up to approximately 33.33%
of the issued share capital of the Company at PINT's forthcoming
AGM in June 2024. The Directors will also propose a resolution to
grant the Company the authority to disapply pre-emption rights,
which would enable the Board to issue ordinary shares for cash,
without pre‑emption rights applying, of up
to approximately 10% of the Company's issued share capital.
An authority to repurchase up to 14.99% of the
Company's issued share capital to be held in treasury or for
cancellation was granted to the Directors on 30 March 2023. Given a
challenging period for many infrastructure investment companies,
and PINT's shares trading at a material discount to NAV, on 31
March 2023 the Board announced its intention to commence a share
buyback programme up to a total consideration of £10 million.
The Directors considered that the share price at which
the Company's Shares were trading materially undervalued PINT's
portfolio and prospects, and in April 2023 begun buying back
shares. During 2023, the Company purchased a total of 7,385,000
Ordinary Shares of 1p each (nominal value of £73,850) at a total
cost of £5.79 million (at a weighted average price of £0.78 per
share), representing c. 1.5% of the Company's issued share capital.
All purchased shares are kept in treasury. As at 31 December 2023,
the Company had a remaining authority to purchase a further
64,567,000 shares; this authority will expire at the conclusion of
the 2024 AGM, and the Board intends to propose a resolution to
renew this authority at the forthcoming AGM in June 2024.
Going
concern
The Company's business activities, together with the
factors likely to affect its future development, performance and
position, including its financial position, are set out in the
strategic report and Investment Manager's report. The Directors
have made an assessment of going concern, taking into account both
the Company's financial position at the balance sheet date and the
expected performance of the Company, using the information
available up to the date of issue of the financial statements.
Total available financing as at 31 December 2023 stood
at £144.4 million, comprising £29.4 million in available cash
balances and £115.0 million through the Company's RCF, which
matures in March 2027. The Company maintains a policy to hold
liquidity sufficient to cover all future operating and financial
commitments due in the next twelve months. This includes all
forecast operating costs, anticipated dividend payments, foreign
exchange hedge settlements due (based on mark‑to‑market valuations), and all
unfunded investment commitments which could be called during the
period as detailed in the Cash and liquidity management section
above and on page 33 of the full Annual Report and Accounts.
As part of the going concern review, the Directors
considered different downside scenarios and their potential impact
on PINT's liquidity. The scenarios modelled included varying
degrees of decline in investment valuations and other key drivers
such as: a slower deployment rate; lower than expected investment
returns; higher than expected operating expenses; and absence of
equity capital raises, realisations and distribution payments. The
Company has several ways in which it could limit or mitigate the
impact these possible developments could have on the balance sheet,
including drawing on the RCF, which includes the provision of
additional liquidity for working capital.
After due consideration of the activities of the
Company, its assets, liabilities, commitments and financial
resources, the Directors concluded that the Company has adequate
resources to continue in operation for at least twelve months from
the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023. For
this reason, the Board considers it appropriate to continue to
adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial
statements.
Directors' Responsibility statement
The Directors are responsible for preparing the annual
report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable
laws and regulations. Company law requires the Directors to prepare
financial statements for each financial year. Under that law they
have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with
applicable law and UK Accounting Standards (United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Under company law the
Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are
satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of
affairs of the Company as at the end of each financial year and of
the profit or loss of the Company for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the Directors
are required to:
·
present a true and fair view of the financial position, financial
performance and cash flows of the Company;
·
select suitable accounting policies in accordance with FRS 102 and
then apply them consistently;
·
present information, including accounting policies, in a manner
that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable
information;
·
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
·
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been
followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and
explained in the financial statements; and
·
prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it
is inappropriate to presume that the Company will continue in
business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate
accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the
Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any
time the financial position of the Company and enable them to
ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act
2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the
Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention
and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Directors are also responsible for preparing the
strategic report, the Directors' report, the Directors'
remuneration report, the Corporate Governance Statement and the
report of the Audit and Risk Committee in accordance with the
Companies Act 2006 and applicable regulations, including the
requirements of the Listing Rules and the Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules. The Directors have delegated responsibility to
the Investment Manager for the maintenance and integrity of the
Company's corporate and financial information included on the
Company's website (www.pantheoninfrastructure.com). Legislation in
the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of
financial statements may differ from legislation in other
jurisdictions.
Each of the Directors, whose names are listed above
and on pages 74 and 75 of the full Annual Report and Accounts,
confirms that to the best of his or her knowledge:
· the
financial statements, prepared in accordance with applicable
accounting standards, give a true and fair view of the assets,
liabilities, financial position and profit of the Company; and
· the
management report, which is incorporated in the strategic report
and Directors' report, includes a fair review of the development
and performance of the business and the position of the Company,
together with a description of the principal risks and
uncertainties that it faces.
The UK Corporate Governance Code requires Directors to
ensure that the annual report and financial statements are fair,
balanced and understandable. In order to reach a conclusion on this
matter, the Board has requested that the Audit and Risk Committee
advises on whether it considers that the annual report and
financial statements fulfil these requirements. The process by
which the Audit and Risk Committee has reached these conclusions is
set out in its report on pages 85 to 89 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts . As a result, the Board has concluded that the annual
report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December
2023, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and
provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the
Company's position and performance, business model and
strategy.
Signed on behalf of the Board by
Vagn
Sørensen
Chair
2 April 2024
NON-STATUTORY ACCOUNTS
The financial information set out
below does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the
period ended 31 December 2023 but is derived from those accounts.
Statutory accounts for the year ended December 2023 will be
delivered to the Registrar of Companies in due course. The Auditors
have reported on those accounts; their report was (i) unqualified,
(ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the
Auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their
report and (iii) did not contain a statement under Section 498 (2)
or (3) of the Companies Act 2006. The text of the Auditors' report
can be found in the Company's full Annual Report and Accounts at
www.pantheoninfrastructure.com.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Income Statement
For the year ended 31 December 2023
|
|
For the year ended 31 December 2023
|
9 September 2021 to 31
December 2022
|
|
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
|
Note
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Gain on investments at fair value through profit or
loss1
|
10
|
-
|
44,298
|
44,298
|
-
|
19,592
|
19,592
|
Gains/(losses) on financial instruments at fair value
through profit or loss
|
13
|
-
|
12,081
|
12,081
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
(8,520)
|
Foreign exchange gains on cash and non-portfolio
assets
|
|
-
|
77
|
77
|
-
|
5
|
5
|
Investment management fees
|
2
|
(4,939)
|
-
|
(4,939)
|
(3,194)
|
-
|
(3,194)
|
Other expenses
|
3
|
(1,702)
|
(157)
|
(1,859)
|
(1,360)
|
(555)
|
(1,915)
|
(Loss)/profit before
financing and taxation
|
|
(6,641)
|
56,299
|
49,658
|
(4,554)
|
10,522
|
5,968
|
Finance income
|
5
|
3,109
|
-
|
3,109
|
2,096
|
-
|
2,096
|
Interest payable and similar expenses
|
6
|
(1,484)
|
-
|
(1,484)
|
(36)
|
-
|
(36)
|
(Loss)/profit before
taxation
|
|
(5,016)
|
56,299
|
51,283
|
(2,494)
|
10,522
|
8,028
|
Taxation
|
7
|
(1,697)
|
-
|
(1,697)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(Loss)/profit for the
period, being total comprehensive income for the period
|
|
(6,713)
|
56,299
|
49,586
|
(2,494)
|
10,522
|
8,028
|
Earnings per share -
basic and diluted
|
8
|
(1.40)p
|
11.79p
|
10.39p
|
(0.58)p
|
2.45p
|
1.87p
|
1. Includes foreign exchange movements on
investments.
The Company does not have any income or expense that
is not included in the return for the year, therefore the return
for the year is also the total comprehensive income for the year.
The supplementary revenue and capital columns are prepared under
guidance published in the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)
issued by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). The total
column of the statement represents the Company's statement of total
comprehensive income prepared in accordance with FRS 102.
All revenue and capital items in the above statement
relate to continuing operations.
The Notes below and on pages 117 to 135 of the full
Annual report and Accounts form part of these financial
statements.
Statement of changes in equity
For the year ended 31 December 2023
Movement for the year ended 31 December 2023
|
Note
|
Share
Capital
£'000
|
Share
premium
£'000
|
Capital redemption
reserve1
£'000
|
Capital
reserve1
£'000
|
Revenue
reserve1
£'000
|
Total
£'000
|
Balance at 1 January
2023
|
|
4,800
|
79,449
|
382,484
|
10,522
|
(2,494)
|
474,761
|
Share issue costs
|
|
-
|
(187)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(187)
|
Ordinary Shares bought back and held in treasury
|
16
|
-
|
-
|
(5,789)
|
-
|
-
|
(5,789)
|
Share buyback costs
|
|
-
|
-
|
(35)
|
-
|
-
|
(35)
|
Dividends paid
|
9
|
-
|
-
|
(14,303)
|
-
|
-
|
(14,303)
|
Profit/(loss) for the period
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
56,299
|
(6,713)
|
49,586
|
Closing equity
shareholders' funds
|
|
4,800
|
79,262
|
362,357
|
66,821
|
(9,207)
|
504,033
|
Movement for the period 9 September 2021 to 31
December 2022
Balance at 9
September 2021
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Share issue costs
|
|
-
|
(9,267)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(9,267)
|
Ordinary Shares issued
|
16
|
4,800
|
395,200
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
400,000
|
Subscription shares issued (subsequently converted to
Ordinary Shares)
|
16
|
-
|
80,800
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
80,800
|
Cancellation of share premium
|
|
-
|
(387,284)
|
387,284
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Dividends paid
|
9
|
-
|
-
|
(4,800)
|
-
|
-
|
(4,800)
|
Profit/(loss) for the period
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
10,522
|
(2,494)
|
8,028
|
Closing equity
shareholders' funds
|
|
4,800
|
79,449
|
382,484
|
10,522
|
(2,494)
|
474,761
|
1. The capital redemption reserve, capital reserve
and revenue reserve are all the Company's distributable reserves.
The capital redemption reserve arose from the cancellation of the
Company's share premium account in 2022 and is a distributable
reserve. The Company is also able to distribute realised gains from
the capital reserve. As at 31 December 2023, there were £nil
reserves available for distribution from this reserve.
The Notes below and on pages 117 to 135 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts form part of these financial
statements.
Balance Sheet
As at 31 December 2023
|
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
Note
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Fixed
assets
|
|
|
|
Investments at fair value
|
10
|
471,668
|
301,382
|
Debtors
|
11
|
609
|
740
|
Current
assets
|
|
|
|
Derivative financial instruments
|
13
|
4,447
|
-
|
Debtors
|
11
|
817
|
959
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
12
|
29,361
|
182,937
|
|
|
34,625
|
183,896
|
Creditors: amounts
falling due within one year
|
|
|
|
Derivative financial instruments
|
13
|
-
|
(1,983)
|
Other creditors
|
14
|
(2,309)
|
(2,737)
|
|
|
(2,309)
|
(4,720)
|
Net current
assets
|
|
32,316
|
179,176
|
Total assets less
current liabilities
|
|
504,593
|
481,298
|
Creditors: amounts
falling due after one year
|
|
|
|
Derivative financial instruments
|
13
|
(560)
|
(6,537)
|
Net assets
|
|
504,033
|
474,761
|
Capital and
reserves
|
|
|
|
Called-up share capital
|
16
|
4,800
|
4,800
|
Share premium
|
17
|
79,262
|
79,449
|
Capital redemption reserve
|
17
|
362,357
|
382,484
|
Capital reserve
|
17
|
66,821
|
10,522
|
Revenue reserve
|
17
|
(9,207)
|
(2,494)
|
Total equity
shareholders' funds
|
|
504,033
|
474,761
|
NAV per Ordinary
Share
|
18
|
106.6p
|
98.9p
|
The financial statements were approved by the Board of
Pantheon Infrastructure Plc on 2 April 2024 and were authorised for
issue by:
Vagn
Sørensen
Chair
Company Number: 13611678
The Notes below and on pages 117 to 135 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts form part of these financial
statements.
Cash flow Statement
For the year ended 31 December 2023
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Cash flow from
operating activities
|
|
|
Investment management fees paid
|
(4,810)
|
(1,994)
|
Operating expenses paid
|
(1,403)
|
(1,581)
|
Other cash payments
|
(259)
|
(110)
|
Net cash outflow from
operating activities
|
(6,472)
|
(3,685)
|
Cash flow from
investing activities
|
|
|
Purchase of investments
|
(130,300)
|
(283,031)
|
Return of capital
|
2,615
|
1,241
|
Derivative financial instruments loss on
settlements
|
(326)
|
-
|
Net cash outflow from
investing activities
|
(128,011)
|
(281,790)
|
Cash flow from
financing activities
|
|
|
Share issue proceeds
|
-
|
480,800
|
Share issue costs
|
(187)
|
(9,267)
|
Share buyback costs
|
(5,619)
|
-
|
Dividends paid
|
(14,303)
|
(4,800)
|
Loan facility arrangement fee
|
(1,889)
|
-
|
Loan facility commitment fee
|
(620)
|
-
|
Finance costs
|
(2)
|
(1)
|
Finance income
|
3,450
|
1,675
|
Net cash
(outflow)/inflow from financing activities
|
(19,170)
|
468,407
|
(Decrease)/increase
in cash and cash equivalents in the period
|
(153,653)
|
182,932
|
Cash and cash
equivalents at the beginning of the period
|
182,937
|
-
|
Foreign exchange
gains
|
77
|
5
|
Cash and cash
equivalents at the end of the period
|
29,361
|
182,937
|
The Notes below and on pages 117 to 135 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts form part of these financial
statements.
Notes to the financial statements
1. Accounting
policies
Pantheon Infrastructure Plc (the 'Company') is a
listed closed‑ended investment company
incorporated in England and Wales on 9 September 2021,
with registered "company number" 13611678. The Company began
trading on 15 November 2021 when the Company's Ordinary
Shares were admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange.
The registered office of the Company is Link Company Matters
Limited, 6th Floor, 65 Gresham Street, London,
EC2V 7NQ.
A. Basis
of preparation
The Company's financial statements have been prepared
in compliance with FRS 102 as it applies to the financial
statements of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2023. They
have been prepared under the historical cost basis of accounting,
modified to include the revaluation of certain assets at fair
value. They have also been prepared on the assumption that approval
as an investment trust will continue to be granted.
The Company's audited financial statements are presented in
GBP and all values are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds
(£'000) except when indicated otherwise.
The financial statements have been prepared in
accordance with the SORP for the financial statements of investment
trust companies and venture capital trusts issued by the AIC in
July 2022.
The financial statements comprise the results of the
Company only. The Company has control over two subsidiaries,
further details of which are given in Note 20. Where the
Company owns a subsidiary that is held as part of the investment
portfolio, the Company excludes it from consolidation. As the value
of such subsidiaries to the Company is through fair value rather
than as the medium through which the group carries out business,
they are measured at fair value in accordance with 9.9C(a) of FRS
102.
The Company was incorporated on 9 September 2021 and a
set of accounts to 31 December 2022 was filed, therefore the period
from 9 September 2021 to 31 December 2022 has been presented as the
comparative. Thus the comparative information may not present a
representative comparative.
B. Going
concern
The Directors have made an assessment of going
concern, taking into account the Company's current performance and
financial position as at 31 December 2023.
In addition, the Directors have assessed the outlook,
which considers the ongoing geopolitical uncertainties including
disruption to global supply chains, increases in the cost of
living, persistent inflation, interest rate rises and the impact of
climate change on the Company's portfolio using the information
available up to the date of issue of the financial statements.
The Directors have also considered the impact of climate change on
PINT's portfolio and have come to the conclusion that there is no
significant negative impact on the Company as a result of climate
change, during the going concern period.
In reaching this conclusion, the Board considered
budgeted and projected results of the business, including projected
cash flows, various downside modelling scenarios and the risks that
could impact the Company's liquidity.
Having performed their assessment, the Directors
considered it appropriate to prepare the financial statements of
the Company on a going concern basis. The Company has
sufficient financial resources and liquidity, is well placed to
manage business risks in the current economic environment, and can
continue operations for a period of at least twelve months from the
date of issue of these financial statements.
C.
Segmental reporting
The Directors are of the opinion that the Company is
engaged in a single segment of business, being investment in
infrastructure to generate investment returns while preserving
capital. The financial information used by the Directors and
Investment Manager to allocate resources and manage the Company
presents the business as a single segment comprising a
diversified portfolio of infrastructure investments.
D.
Investments
The Company's underlying assets comprise unlisted
investments, the majority of which are held through its
subsidiary, Pantheon Infrastructure Holdings LP (PIH LP) with one
investment held directly. While the Company operates a robust and
consistent valuation process, there is significant estimation
uncertainty in the underlying asset valuations which are estimated
at a point in time. Accordingly, while relevant information
relating to but received after the measurement date is considered,
the Directors will only consider an adjustment to the financial
statements if it were to have a significant impact and is
indicative of conditions present at the measurement date.
The Company has fully adopted sections 11 and 12 of
FRS 102. All investments held by the Company are classified as
'fair value through profit or loss'. The Company's business is
investing in infrastructure assets with a view to profiting from
their total return in the form of interest, dividends or increases
in fair value. The investments are recognised at fair value on
initial recognition represented by the cost of acquisition and the
Company manages and evaluates the performance of its investments on
a fair value basis.
Upon initial recognition, investments held by the
Company are classified 'at fair value through profit or loss'. All
gains and losses are allocated to the capital column within the
Income statement as 'Gains on investments held at fair value
through profit or loss'. When a purchase or sale is made under a
contract, the terms of which require delivery within the time frame
of the relevant market, the investments concerned are recognised or
derecognised on the trade date. Subsequent to initial recognition,
investments are valued at fair value through profit or loss. The
fair values for the Company's investments are established by the
Directors after discussion with the Investment Manager using
valuation techniques in accordance with the International Private
Equity and Venture Capital (IPEV) guidelines. Valuations are based
on periodic valuations provided by the Sponsors of the investments
and recorded up to the measurement date. Such valuations are
necessarily dependent upon the reasonableness of the valuations by
the Sponsor of the underlying assets. In the absence of contrary
information the values are assumed to be reliable.
The Sponsor is usually the best placed party to
determine the appropriate valuation. The annual and quarterly
reports received from the Sponsors are reviewed by the Investment
Manager to ensure consistency and appropriateness of approach to
reported valuations.
The basis of valuation for infrastructure assets
provided by the Sponsors depends on the nature of the underlying
assets and will typically involve a fair value approach in line
with recognised accounting standards and industry best practice
guidelines such as IPEV. Infrastructure assets often display
particular characteristics which affect the valuation approach,
tending to result in a higher prevalence of discounted cash flows
in the valuation, where the fair value is estimated by deriving the
present value of the expected cash flows generated by the
investment through the use of reasonable assumptions such as
appropriate discount rate(s) to reflect the inherent risk of the
asset(s) forming the investment.
The discounted cash flow basis requires assumptions to
be made regarding future cash flows, terminal value and the
discount rate to be applied to these cash flows. There is also
consideration given to the impact of wider megatrends such as the
transition to a lower-carbon economy and climate change.
The fair value will generally reflect the latest
valuations available from the Sponsor which may not coincide with
the Company's reporting date. In such cases the Investment Manager
performs a roll forward from the latest available valuation to the
relevant reporting date. The roll forward process takes
consideration of the following factors:
i. transactions and
foreign exchange movements in the intervening period; and
ii. adjustments for expected
performance of the investment in the intervening period.
The process may also include, but not be limited to,
in consultation with the Sponsor, changes in multiples/discount
rates, asset fundamentals (for instance operating performance) and
the macroeconomic environment.
On an annual basis the Investment Manager receives
annual audited financial statements from the Sponsors of the asset.
The Investment Manager utilises the audited accounts to gain
comfort that the underlying infrastructure asset is fair valued in
line with recognised accounting standards and audited by a
recognised auditor. This is in addition to the analysis performed
by the Investment Manager to determine the reasonableness of the
valuation and that it is appropriate to the investment and
performance thereof.
If the Sponsor does not provide audited financial
statements, to the extent that the Board of the Company or the
Investment Manager deem it appropriate, and it is possible to do in
conjunction with the Sponsor, the valuation of the underlying
infrastructure asset is independently verified. The scope of this
verification is determined on a case-by-case basis and, dependent
on the asset, could include an independent valuation report from a
valuation provider engaged by the Investment Manager. The
Investment Manager then analyses the independent valuation report
to determine the reasonableness of the valuation and that it is
appropriate to the investment and performance thereof before
presenting to the Investment Manager's Valuation Committee and the
Board for approval.
E.
Financial instruments
The Company makes investments and has commitments in
currencies other than GBP, its reporting currency, and accordingly,
a significant proportion of its investments and cash balances are
in currencies other than GBP. The Company uses forward foreign
currency exchange contracts to hedge foreign exchange risks
associated with its underlying investment activities.
The contracts entered into by the Company are denominated
in the currency of the geographic area in which the Company has
significant exposure against its reporting currency.
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts are
initially recognised and subsequently measured at fair value.
The Company uses valuation techniques that are
appropriate in the circumstances and for which sufficient data is
available to measure fair value, maximising the use of relevant
observable inputs and minimising the use of unobservable inputs
significant to the fair value measurement as a whole.
The Company has elected not to apply hedge accounting and
therefore changes in the fair value of forward foreign currency
exchange contracts are recognised within the capital column of
the Income statement in the period in which
they occur.
F.
Income
Distributions receivable from investments are
recognised on the appropriate ex-dividend date. Where no
ex‑dividend date is quoted, distributions
are recognised when the Company's right to receive payment is
established. Overseas dividends are gross of the appropriate rate
of withholding tax, with any withholding tax suffered being
accounted for separately.
Other income is accounted for on an accruals
basis.
G.
Expenses
All expenses are accounted for on an accruals basis.
Expenses, including investment management fees, are charged through
the revenue account, except expenses which are incidental to
the acquisition or disposal of an investment. These are
treated as capital costs, separately identified, and
charged to the capital account of the Income
statement.
H. Finance
income
Finance income comprises interest received on funds
invested into deposit accounts. Finance income is accounted
for on an accruals basis.
I. Finance
costs
Finance costs consist of interest and other costs that
the Company incurs in connection with bank and other borrowings.
Finance costs also include the amortisation charge of arrangement
fees or other costs associated with the set-up of borrowings; these
are amortised over the period of the loan. All other finance
costs are expensed in the period in which they occur.
J.
Taxation
Corporation tax is recognised in profit or loss except
to the extent that it relates to items recognised directly in
equity, in which case it is recognised in equity.
Deferred tax is provided on temporary differences
between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities for
financial reporting purposes and the amounts used for taxation
purposes. The amount of deferred tax that is provided is based
on the expected manner of realisation or settlement of the carrying
amount of assets and liabilities, using tax rates enacted or
substantially enacted at the period end date.
Deferred tax is not provided on capital gains and
losses arising on the revaluation or disposal of investments
because the Company meets (and intends to continue for the
foreseeable future to meet) the conditions for approval as an
investment trust company, pursuant to sections 1158 and 1159 of
the CTA.
Deferred tax assets are only recognised if it is
considered more likely than not that there will be suitable profits
from which the future reversal of timing differences can
be deducted.
K. Cash
and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand,
deposits held at call with banks and other short‑term highly liquid investments with original
maturities of three months or less at the date of placement,
free of any encumbrances, which are readily convertible into
known amounts of cash and subject to insignificant risk of changes
in value.
L.
Debtors
Trade and other debtors are initially recognised at
transaction value. Subsequent measurement is at the initially
recognised value less any cash payments from the debtor, and less
provision or write off for doubtful debts. A provision is made
where there is objective evidence that the Company will not be able
to recover balances in full. Any adjustment is recognised in
profit or loss as an impairment gain or loss.
M.
Creditors
Trade and other creditors are initially recognised at
fair value and subsequently held at amortised cost.
N.
Interest-bearing loans and liabilities
All bank borrowings are initially recognised at
transaction value net of attributable transaction costs.
After initial recognition, all bank borrowings are
measured at amortised cost using the effective
interest method.
O.
Dividends payable to shareholders
Equity dividends are recognised when they become
legally payable. Interim equity dividends are recognised when
paid. Final equity dividends are recognised when approved by
shareholders at an Annual General Meeting.
P. Share
premium
The share premium account represents the accumulated
premium paid for shares issued above their nominal value less issue
expenses. This is a reserve forming part of the
non-distributable reserves. The following items are taken to
this reserve:
·
costs associated with the issue of equity; and
·
premium on the issue of shares.
Q. Capital
redemption reserve
The capital redemption reserve represents cancelled
share premium less dividends paid from this reserve. This is a
distributable reserve. This reserve also includes the cost of
acquiring the Company's Ordinary Shares if the Company is in a
position to buy back shares.
R. Capital
reserve
The following are accounted for in this reserve:
·
gains and losses on the realisation of investments;
·
unrealised gains and losses on investments;
·
gains and losses on foreign exchange forward contracts;
·
realised foreign exchange differences of a capital nature; and
·
expenses, together with related taxation effect, charged to this
reserve in accordance with the above policies.
The Company is able to distribute realised gains from
this reserve.
S. Revenue
reserve
The revenue reserve represents the surplus of
accumulated profits from the revenue column of the Income
statement and is distributable.
T. Foreign
exchange
The functional and presentational currency of the
Company is GBP because it is the primary currency in the economic
environment in which the Company operates and, as a UK listed
company, GBP is also its capital raising currency.
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are recorded in
the local currency at actual foreign exchange rates as at the date
of transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in
foreign currencies at the period end are reported at the rates of
foreign exchange prevailing at the period end. Any gain or
loss arising from a change in exchange rates subsequent to
the date of the transaction is included as a foreign exchange
gain or loss in the revenue or capital column of the Income
statement depending on whether the gain or loss is of a capital or
revenue nature. For non‑monetary
assets these are recognised as fair value adjustments.
U.
Significant judgements, estimates and assumptions
The preparation of financial statements requires the
Company and Investment Manager to make judgements, estimates and
assumptions that affect the reported amounts of investments at fair
value at the financial reporting date and the reported fair value
movements during the reporting period. Uncertainty about these
assumptions and estimates could result in outcomes that require a
material adjustment to the carrying amount of the investments at
fair value in future years. Details of how the fair values of
infrastructure assets are estimated and any associated judgements
applied are provided in Note 22.
2. Investment
management fees
|
Year ended 31 December 2023
|
Period ended 31 December
2022
|
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Investment management fees
|
4,939
|
-
|
4,939
|
3,194
|
-
|
3,194
|
|
4,939
|
-
|
4,939
|
3,194
|
-
|
3,194
|
The Investment Manager is entitled to a quarterly
management fee at an annual rate of:
·
1.0% of the part of the Company's net asset value up to and
including £750 million; and
·
0.9% of the part of such net asset value in excess of
£750 million.
As at 31 December 2023, £1,329,000 (31 December 2022:
£1,200,000) was owed for investment management fees.
The Investment Manager does not charge a performance
fee.
3. Other
expenses
|
Year ended 31 December 2023
|
Period ended 31 December
2022
|
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Secretarial and accountancy services
|
215
|
-
|
215
|
201
|
-
|
201
|
Depositary services
|
77
|
-
|
77
|
74
|
-
|
74
|
Fees payable to the Company's Auditor for
audit-related assurance services
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Initial accounts
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
25
|
-
|
25
|
- Annual financial statements
|
150
|
-
|
150
|
135
|
-
|
135
|
Fees payable to the Company's Auditor for non-audit
related assurance services1
|
35
|
-
|
35
|
35
|
-
|
35
|
Directors' remuneration (see Note 4)
|
180
|
-
|
180
|
220
|
-
|
220
|
Employer's National Insurance
|
21
|
-
|
21
|
24
|
-
|
24
|
Legal and professional fees
|
102
|
151
|
253
|
186
|
534
|
720
|
VAT irrecoverable
|
367
|
-
|
367
|
9
|
-
|
9
|
Other fees
|
555
|
6
|
561
|
451
|
21
|
472
|
|
1,702
|
157
|
1,859
|
1,360
|
555
|
1,915
|
1.The non-audit fees payable to the Auditor relate to
the review of the Company's June 2023 half-yearly report.
4. Directors'
remuneration
A breakdown of Directors' emoluments is provided in
the Directors' remuneration report on pages 96 to 100 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts.
5. Finance
income
|
Year ended
|
Period ended
|
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Finance income
|
82
|
73
|
Bank interest
|
3,027
|
2,023
|
Total
|
3,109
|
2,096
|
6. Interest payable
and similar expenses
|
Year ended
|
Period ended
|
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Commitment fees payable on borrowings
|
913
|
22
|
Amortisation of loan facility arrangement fee
|
569
|
13
|
Bank interest expense
|
2
|
1
|
|
1,484
|
36
|
7.
Taxation
Year ended 31 December
2023
Period ended 31 December 2022
|
|
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Withholding tax deducted from investment
distributions
|
1,697
|
-
|
1,697
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Tax charge
from investments
The tax charge for the year differs from the standard
rate of corporation tax in the UK of 19% to 31 March 2023, rising
to 25% from 1 April 2023, giving a weighted average for the year of
23.5% (31 December 2022: 19%). The differences are explained
below:
|
Year ended 31 December 2023
|
Period ended 31 December
2022
|
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Net return before tax
|
(5,016)
|
56,299
|
51,283
|
(2,494)
|
10,522
|
8,028
|
Tax at UK corporation tax rate at 23.5% (2022:
19%)
|
(1,179)
|
13,230
|
12,051
|
(474)
|
1,999
|
1,525
|
Non-taxable investment, derivative and currency
gains
|
-
|
(13,230)
|
(13,230)
|
-
|
(1,999)
|
(1,999)
|
Carry forward management expenses
|
1,179
|
-
|
1,179
|
474
|
-
|
474
|
Withholding tax deducted from investment
distributions
|
1,697
|
-
|
1,697
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
1,697
|
-
|
1,697
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Factors
that may affect future tax charges
The Company is an investment trust and is therefore
not subject to tax on capital gains. Deferred tax is not provided
on capital gains and losses arising on the revaluation or disposal
of investments because the Company meets (and intends to meet for
the foreseeable future) the conditions for approval as an
investment trust. No deferred tax asset has been recognised in
respect of excess management expenses and expenses in excess of
taxable income as they will only be recoverable to the extent that
there is sufficient future taxable revenue.
As at 31 December 2023, excess management expenses are
estimated to be in excess of £8.22 million (2022: £3.05
million).
At 31 December 2023, the Company had no unprovided
deferred tax liabilities.
8. Earnings per
share
Earnings per share (EPS) are calculated by dividing
profit for the year attributable to ordinary shareholders of the
Company by the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue
during the period. As there are no dilutive instruments
outstanding, both basic and diluted earnings per share are shown
below:
Year ended
|
|
|
|
31 December 2023
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Earnings for the year to 31 December 2023 (£'000)
|
(6,713)
|
56,299
|
49,586
|
Weighted average Ordinary Shares (number)
|
|
|
477,411,877
|
Basic and diluted
earnings per share
|
(1.40)p
|
11.79p
|
10.39p
|
Period 9 September 2021 to 31 December 2022
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Total
|
Earnings for the period (£'000)
|
(2,494)
|
10,522
|
8,028
|
Weighted average Ordinary Shares
(number)1
|
|
|
428,272,575
|
Basic and diluted
earnings per share
|
(0.58)p
|
2.45p
|
1.87p
|
There were no meaningful shareholders or corporate
activity between incorporation of the Company on
9 September 2021 and 16 November 2021, the IPO
date, and therefore this period has not been included for the
purpose of calculating the weighted average number
of shares.
9. Dividends
paid
Amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders
in the year:
|
Year ended
|
Period ended
|
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Second interim dividend for the period ended 31
December 2022 of 1p (2022: nil) per Ordinary Share
|
4,800
|
-
|
First interim dividend for the year ended 31 December
2023 of 2p (2022: 1p) per Ordinary Share
|
9,503
|
4,800
|
|
14,303
|
4,800
|
On 21 March 2024 the Company declared a second
interim dividend of 2p per Ordinary Share, which will be paid on 23
April 2024.
10.
Investments
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Cost brought forward
|
281,790
|
-
|
Opening unrealised appreciation on investments
held
|
|
|
- Unlisted investments
|
19,592
|
-
|
- Listed Investments
|
-
|
-
|
Valuation of investments brought forward
|
301,382
|
-
|
Movement in period:
|
|
|
Acquisitions at cost
|
128,603
|
281,790
|
Capital distributions - proceeds
|
(2,615)
|
-
|
Appreciation on investments held
|
44,298
|
19,592
|
Valuation of
investments at period end
|
471,668
|
301,382
|
Cost at year end
|
407,778
|
281,790
|
Closing unrealised appreciation on investments
held
|
|
|
- Unlisted investments
|
63,890
|
19,592
|
- Listed investments
|
-
|
-
|
Valuation of
investments at period end
|
471,668
|
301,382
|
11.
Debtors
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Other debtors - non-current1
|
609
|
740
|
Other debtors - current
|
698
|
486
|
Prepayments and accrued income
|
119
|
473
|
|
1,426
|
1,699
|
1. Relates to loan arrangement fees paid up front
which are to be released to the Income statement until the loan
maturity date of 18 December 2025.
12. Cash and cash
equivalents
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Cash
|
11,649
|
26,670
|
Cash equivalents
|
17,712
|
156,267
|
|
29,361
|
182,937
|
Cash equivalents of £17,712,000 were held in a money
market fund at 31 December 2023 (31 December 2022:
£156,267,000).
13. Derivative
financial instruments
|
Year ended
|
Period ended
|
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
At the beginning of the period
|
(8,520)
|
-
|
Unrealised gains/(losses) on derivative financial
instruments
|
12,407
|
(8,520)
|
At the end of the period
|
3,887
|
(8,520)
|
|
|
|
Realised loss on settlement of derivative financial
instruments
|
(326)
|
-
|
Total gain/(losses) on derivative financial
instruments at fair value through profit or loss
|
12,081
|
(8,520)
|
The Company uses forward foreign exchange contracts to
minimise the effect of fluctuations in the value of the investment
portfolio from movements in exchange rates.
As at 31 December 2023, there were 20 contracts due to
expire in the next twelve months with a valuation of £4,447,000 (31
December 2022: three contracts valued at a liability of
£1,983,000). The remaining contracts due to expire after the twelve
months following the period end were valued as a liability of
£560,000 (31 December 2022: £6,537,000 liability).
The fair value of these contracts is recorded in the
Balance sheet. No contracts are designated as hedging
instruments and consequently all changes in fair value are
taken through profit or loss.
As at 31 December 2023, the notional amount of the
forward foreign exchange contracts held by the Company was £340.3
million (31 December 2022: £278.9 million).
14. Other
creditors
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Investment management fees payable
|
1,329
|
1,200
|
Other creditors and accruals
|
980
|
1,537
|
|
2,309
|
2,737
|
15. Interest-bearing
loans and borrowings
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Interest-bearing loans and borrowings
|
-
|
-
|
Loan arrangement fee brought forward
|
1,087
|
-
|
Loan arrangement fee incurred in the period
|
788
|
1,100
|
Loan arrangement fee amortised for the period
|
(569)
|
(13)
|
Loan arrangement fee
carried forward
|
1,306
|
1,087
|
Total credit facility
payable
|
-
|
-
|
The Company entered into a £62.5 million RCF with
Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets in December 2022. In June 2023, this
was increased by £52.5 million, bringing the RCF total to £115
million. As part of the increase, the Company sought to diversify
the lender group through the introduction of The Royal Bank of
Scotland International Limited alongside Lloyds Bank Corporate
Markets.
The RCF is denominated in GBP, with the option to be
utilised in other major currencies. The rate of interest is the
relevant currency benchmark plus an initial margin of 2.85% per
annum, reducing to 2.65% once certain expansion thresholds have
been met. A commitment fee of 1.00% per annum is payable on undrawn
amounts, and the tenor of the RCF as at 31 December 2023 was three
years from December 2022. The facility is secured against the
assets held in the Company's subsidiary, Pantheon Infrastructure
Holdings LP.
As at 31 December 2023 the RCF was undrawn.
Borrowing costs associated with the RCF are shown as
interest payable and similar expenses in Note 6 to these financial
statements.
The loan arrangement fee of £1,306,000 carried forward
at 31 December 2023 (2022: £1,087,000) is included within Debtors,
Note 11 to these financial statements.
The debt facility includes loan to value covenants.
The Company has complied with all covenants throughout the
financial period.
16. Called-up share
capital
|
31 December 2023
|
31 December 2022
|
Allotted, called up
and fully paid:
|
Shares
|
£'000
|
Shares
|
£'000
|
Ordinary Shares of
£0.01
|
|
|
|
|
Opening balance
|
480,000,000
|
4,800
|
-
|
-
|
Ordinary Shares issued in the period
|
-
|
-
|
400,000,000
|
4,000
|
Conversion of Subscription Shares in the period
|
-
|
-
|
80,000,000
|
800
|
Closing
balance
|
480,000,000
|
4,800
|
480,000,000
|
4,800
|
Subscription shares
of £0.01
|
|
|
|
|
Opening balance
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Subscription Shares issued in the period
|
-
|
-
|
80,000,000
|
800
|
Conversion of Subscription Shares in the period
|
-
|
-
|
(80,000,000)
|
(800)
|
Closing
balance
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Treasury
shares
|
|
|
|
|
Opening balance
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Shares bought back in the year
|
(7,385,000)
|
(74)
|
-
|
-
|
Closing
balance
|
(7,385,000)
|
(74)
|
-
|
-
|
Total Ordinary Share
capital excluding treasury shares
|
472,615,000
|
4,726
|
480,000,000
|
4,800
|
During the year to 31 December 2023, 7,385,000
Ordinary Shares were bought back in the market, and are held in
treasury (31 December 2022: nil) at a total cost, including stamp
duty, of £5,824,000.
17.
Reserves
|
|
Capital
|
|
|
|
|
Share
|
redemption
|
Capital
|
Revenue
|
|
|
premium
|
reserve
|
reserve
|
reserve
|
Total
|
Year ended 31
December 2023
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Opening balance
|
79,449
|
382,484
|
10,522
|
(2,494)
|
469,961
|
Ordinary Shares bought back and held in treasury
|
-
|
(5,824)
|
-
|
-
|
(5,824)
|
Share issue costs
|
(187)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(187)
|
Gains on financial instruments at fair value through
profit or loss
|
-
|
-
|
12,081
|
-
|
12,081
|
Gains on investments at fair value through profit or
loss
|
-
|
-
|
44,298
|
-
|
44,298
|
Foreign exchange differences on cash and non-portfolio
assets
|
-
|
-
|
77
|
-
|
77
|
Legal and professional expenses charged to capital
|
-
|
-
|
(151)
|
-
|
(151)
|
Other fees
|
-
|
-
|
(6)
|
|
(6)
|
Revenue loss for the period
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(6,713)
|
(6,713)
|
Dividends in the period
|
-
|
(14,303)
|
-
|
-
|
(14,303)
|
Closing
balance
|
79,262
|
362,357
|
66,821
|
(9,207)
|
499,233
|
|
|
Capital
|
|
|
|
|
Share
|
redemption
|
Capital
|
Revenue
|
|
|
premium
|
reserve
|
reserve
|
reserve
|
Total
|
Period ended 31
December 2022
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Opening balance
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Ordinary Shares issued
|
395,200
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
395,200
|
Subscription shares issued (subsequently converted
to
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ordinary Shares)
|
80,800
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
80,800
|
Share issue costs
|
(9,267)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(9,267)
|
Cancellation of share premium
|
(387,284)
|
387,284
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Losses on derivative financial instruments at fair
value
|
|
|
|
|
|
through profit or loss
|
-
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
Gains on investments at fair value through profit or
loss
|
-
|
-
|
19,592
|
-
|
19,592
|
Foreign exchange gains on cash and cash
equivalents
|
-
|
-
|
5
|
-
|
5
|
Legal and professional expenses charged to capital
|
-
|
-
|
(534)
|
-
|
(534)
|
Other fees
|
-
|
-
|
(21)
|
-
|
(21)
|
Loss for the period
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(2,494)
|
(2,494)
|
Interim dividend paid
|
-
|
(4,800)
|
-
|
-
|
(4,800)
|
Closing
balance
|
79,449
|
382,484
|
10,522
|
(2,494)
|
469,961
|
The Company is able to distribute realised gains from
the capital reserve. As at 31 December 2023 there were £nil
reserves available for distribution from this reserve (31
December 2022: £nil).
18. Net asset value
per share
NAV per share is calculated by dividing net assets in
the Balance sheet attributable to ordinary equity holders of the
Company by the number of Ordinary Shares in issue less shares held
in Treasury at the end of the period. As there are no dilutive
instruments outstanding, both basic and diluted NAV per share are
shown below:
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
Net assets attributable (£'000)
|
504,033
|
474,761
|
Ordinary Shares in issue excluding shares held in
treasury
|
472,615,000
|
480,000,000
|
NAV per Ordinary
Share
|
106.6p
|
98.9p
|
19. Reconciliation of
loss before financing costs and taxation to net cash flows from
operating activities
|
|
9 September
|
|
Year to
|
2021 to
|
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Profit before financing costs and taxation
|
49,658
|
5,968
|
Gains on investments
|
(44,298)
|
(19,592)
|
Foreign exchange gains on cash and borrowings
|
(77)
|
(5)
|
Decrease/(increase) in operating debtors
|
122
|
(182)
|
Increase in operating creditors
|
204
|
1,606
|
(Gains)/losses on financial instruments at fair
value through profit or loss
|
(12,081)
|
8,520
|
Net cash flows used
in operating activities
|
(6,472)
|
(3,685)
|
20.
Subsidiaries
The Company has two wholly-owned subsidiaries. The
Company has ownership and control over these two entities and as
such they are deemed to be subsidiaries by the Board.
Pantheon Infrastructure Holdings LP (PIH LP) was
incorporated on 5 November 2021 with a registered address in
the State of Delaware, National Registered Agents, Inc., 209 Orange
Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, and is wholly owned by the
Company.
The Company holds an investment in PIH LP. In
accordance with FRS 102, the Company is exempted from the
requirement to consolidate PIH LP on the grounds that its
subsidiary is held exclusively with a view to subsequent resale as
it is considered part of an investment portfolio.
PIH LP holds a portfolio of investments that are
measured at fair value. The Company holds a 99.9% investment in PIH
LP, with the remaining holding being held by Pantheon
Infrastructure Holdings GP LLC (PIH GP).
The General Partner for PIH LP is PIH GP. PIH GP was
incorporated on 5 November 2021 with a registered address in the
State of Delaware, National Registered Agents, Inc., 209 Orange
Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 19801, and is wholly owned by the
Company.
PIH GP is immaterial, it is therefore excluded from
consolidation.
21. Contingencies,
guarantees and financial commitments
At 31 December 2023 there were capital commitments
outstanding of £15.7 million in respect of investments in
infrastructure assets (2022: £57.9 million). These
commitments will be funded using the Company's financial
resources.
The Company expects 100% of the capital commitments
outstanding to be called within the next twelve months.
22. Fair
value
Fair value
hierarchy
Financial assets are carried in the Balance sheet at
their fair value or approximation of fair value. The fair value is
the amount at which the asset could be sold in an orderly
transaction between market participants, at the measurement date,
other than a forced liquidation sale.
The Company measures fair values using the following
fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs
used in making the measurements. Categorisation within the
hierarchy has been determined on the basis of the lowest level
input that is significant to the fair value measurement of the
relevant assets as follows:
Level 1: Quoted (unadjusted) market prices in active
markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2: Valuation techniques for which the lowest
level input that is significant to the fair value measurement is
directly or indirectly observable.
Level 3: Valuation techniques for which the lowest
level input that is significant to the fair value measurement is
unobservable.
For assets and liabilities that are recognised in the
financial statements on a recurring basis, the Company determines
whether transfers have occurred between levels in the hierarchy by
reassessing categorisation at the end of each reporting period.
Financial
assets and liabilities at fair value through profit or loss
at 31 December 2023
|
Level 1
|
Level 2
|
Level 3
|
Total
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Investments
|
-
|
-
|
471,668
|
471,668
|
Derivatives - financial instruments
|
-
|
3,887
|
-
|
3,887
|
|
-
|
3,887
|
471,668
|
475,555
|
Financial
assets and liabilities at fair value through profit or loss
at 31 December 2022
|
Level 1
|
Level 2
|
Level 3
|
Total
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Investments
|
-
|
-
|
301,382
|
301,382
|
Derivatives - financial instruments
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
301,382
|
292,862
|
The fair value of these investments and derivatives -
financial instruments is recorded in the Balance sheet as at the
year end.
There have been no transfers between Level 1 and Level
2 during the year, nor have there been any transfers between Level
2 and Level 3.
The carrying amount of all assets and liabilities,
detailed within the Balance sheet, is considered to be the same as
their fair value.
The majority of the assets held within Level 3 are
valued on a discounted cash flow basis, hence, the valuations are
sensitive to the discount rate assumed for each asset. The assets
are held through the Company's subsidiary, PIH LP, with one
investment held directly. Other significant unobservable inputs
include the inflation rate assumption and the interest rate
assumption used to project the future cash flows and the forecast
cash flows themselves. Increasing the discount rate used in the
valuation of each asset by 0.5% would reduce the value of the
Portfolio by £4.2 million (31 December 2022: £10.5 million).
Decreasing the discount rate used in the valuation of each asset by
0.5% would increase the value of the Portfolio by £4.6 million
(31 December 2022: £11.2 million). The WADR of the Portfolio at
31 December 2023 was 13.6% (31 December 2022:
14.2%).
The majority of assets held within Level 3 have
revenues that are linked, partially linked or in some way
correlated to inflation. The impact of increasing the inflation
rate assumption by 0.5% would increase the value of the Portfolio
by £2.4 million (31 December 2022: £3.7 million). Decreasing
the inflation rate assumption used in the valuation of each asset
by 0.5% would decrease the value of the Portfolio by
£2.2 million (31 December 2022: £2.6 million).
The valuations are sensitive to changes in interest
rates. These comprise a wide range of interest rates from
short-term deposit rates to
longer-term borrowing rates across a broad range of
debt products. Increasing the interest rate assumption for each
asset by 0.5% would reduce the value of the Portfolio by
£1.7 million (31 December 2022: £5.9 million). Decreasing the
interest rate assumption used in the valuation of each asset by
0.5% would increase the value of the Portfolio by £1.9 million
(31 December 2022: £6.0 million). This calculation does not take
account of any offsetting factors which may be expected to prevail
if interest rates changed, including the impact of inflation
discussed above.
23. Analysis of
financial assets and liabilities
The primary investment objective of the Company is to
seek to maximise long-term capital growth for its shareholders by
investing in equity or equity-related investments in a diversified
portfolio of infrastructure assets. Investments are not restricted
to a single market but are made when the opportunity arises and on
an international basis.
The Company's financial instruments comprise
securities and other investments, cash balances and debtors and
creditors that arise from its operations, for example sales and
purchases awaiting settlement and debtors for accrued income.
The principal risks the Company faces in its portfolio
management activities are:
·
liquidity risk;
·
interest rate risk;
·
credit risk;
·
market price risk; and
·
foreign currency risk.
The Investment Manager monitors the financial risks
affecting the Company on a daily basis and the Directors regularly
receive financial information, which is used to identify and
monitor risk.
In accordance with FRS 102, an analysis of financial
assets and liabilities, which identifies the risk to the
Company of holding such items, is given below.
Liquidity
risk
Due to the nature of the Company's investment policy,
the largest proportion of the portfolio is invested in unquoted
securities, many of which are less readily marketable than, for
example, "blue-chip" UK equities. The Directors believe that the
Company, as a closed-end listed fund with no fixed wind-up date, is
ideally suited to making long-term investments in instruments with
limited marketability. The investments in unquoted securities are
monitored by the Board on a regular basis.
As a result, the Company may not be able to quickly
liquidate its investments at an amount close to their fair value in
order to meet its liquidity requirements, including the need to
meet outstanding undrawn commitments. The Company manages its
liquid investments to ensure sufficient cash is available to meet
contractual commitments and also seeks to have cash available to
meet other short-term financial needs.
As at 31 December 2023, liquidity risk was considered
low given the cash available to the Company and the headroom on its
undrawn RCF.
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
29,361
|
182,937
|
Current debtors
|
817
|
959
|
Other creditors
|
(2,309)
|
(2,737)
|
|
27,869
|
181,159
|
As at 31 December 2023, capital commitments
outstanding totalled £15.7 million (31 December 2022: £57.9
million), therefore liquid resources available after commitments
were £12.2 million (31 December 2022: £184.8 million).
Interest
rate risk
Interest rate movements may affect the level of income
receivable on cash deposits and interest payable on variable rate
borrowings. Cash deposits generally comprise overnight call or
short-term money market deposits and earn interest at floating
rates based on prevailing bank base rates.
Interest rate movements may affect the interest rate
paid on financial liabilities. Interest on RCF drawings is payable
at an initial margin of 2.85% above the relevant benchmark rate,
reducing to 2.65% once certain expansion thresholds have been met.
As at 31 December 2023 the RCF was fully undrawn.
Increases or decreases in interest rates over the
medium term may also affect the discount rates at which investments
are valued.
Credit
risk
Credit risk is the risk that a counterparty will cause
a financial loss to the Company by failing to discharge its
obligations to the Company when they fall due.
All cash deposits are placed with approved
counterparties, all of whom have a credit rating of A- or
above.
At the year end, the Company's financial assets
exposed to credit risk amounted to the following:
|
31 December
|
31 December
|
|
2023
|
2022
|
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
29,361
|
182,937
|
Market
price risk
The fair value of future cash flows of a financial
instrument held by the Company may fluctuate due to changes in
market prices of comparable businesses. This market risk may
comprise: currency risk, interest rate risk and/or fair value risk.
The Board of Directors reviews and agrees policies for managing
these risks. The Investment Manager assesses the exposure to market
risk when making each investment decision, and monitors the overall
level of market risk across all of the Investment Manager's
investments on an ongoing basis.
The nature of the Company's investments means that
they are valued by the Directors after due consideration of the
most recent available information.
If the Portfolio valuation at 31 December 2023 fell by
20%, with all other variables held constant, this would have led to
a reduction of £94.3 million in the return before taxation. An
increase of 20% would increase the return before taxation by an
equal and opposite amount.
Foreign
exchange risk
The Company makes investments and has commitments in
currencies other than GBP, its reporting currency, and,
accordingly, a significant proportion of its investments and cash
balances are in currencies other than GBP. Therefore, the Company's
NAV is sensitive to movements in foreign exchange rates.
The Investment Manager monitors the Company's exposure
to foreign currencies and reports to the Board on a regular
basis.
The Company uses derivative financial instruments such
as forward foreign currency contracts to manage the currency risks
associated with its underlying investment activities. Contracts
entered into by the Company are denominated in the foreign currency
of the geographic areas in which the Company has significant
exposure against its reporting currency. The contracts are used for
hedging and the fair values thereof are recorded in the Balance
sheet as other financial liabilities held at fair value. Unrealised
gains and losses are taken to capital reserves.
The table below sets out the Company's foreign
exchange exposure:
|
GBP
|
USD1
|
EUR1
|
Total
|
Foreign exchange risk
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
At 31 December
2023
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
26,588
|
2,490
|
283
|
29,361
|
Investments held at fair value through
profit or loss
|
80,598
|
239,228
|
151,842
|
471,668
|
Other debtors
|
1,426
|
-
|
-
|
1,426
|
Other payables
|
(2,309)
|
-
|
-
|
(2,309)
|
Derivatives - financial assets
|
-
|
2,253
|
1,634
|
3,887
|
|
106,303
|
243,971
|
153,759
|
504,033
|
|
GBP
|
USD1
|
EUR1
|
Total
|
Foreign exchange risk
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
£'000
|
At 31 December 2022
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
181,987
|
828
|
122
|
182,937
|
Investments held at fair value through
profit or loss
|
-
|
217,282
|
84,100
|
301,382
|
Other debtors
|
1,699
|
-
|
-
|
1,699
|
Other payables
|
(2,737)
|
-
|
-
|
(2,737)
|
Derivatives - financial liabilities
|
(8,520)
|
-
|
-
|
(8,520)
|
|
172,429
|
218,110
|
84,222
|
474,761
|
1. These values are expressed in GBP.
If there had been an increase/(decrease) in the
GBP/USD exchange rate of 10%, it would have the effect of
(decreasing)/increasing equity shareholders' funds by £(24.4)
million/£24.4 million (2022: £(6.8) million/£8.3 million), which
includes the impact of the foreign currency exchange contracts to
partially offset the movement in value. The calculations are based
on the financial assets and liabilities and the foreign exchange
rate as at 31 December 2023 of 1.27479 GBP/USD (2022: 1.2029
GBP/USD).
If there had been an increase/(decrease) in the
GBP/EUR exchange rate of 10%, it would have the effect of
(decreasing)/increasing equity shareholders' funds by £(15.4)
million/£15.4 million (2022: £3.1 million/£(3.7) million), which
includes the impact of the foreign currency exchange contracts to
partially offset the movement in value. The calculations are based
on the financial assets and liabilities and the foreign exchange
rate as at 31 December 2023 of 1.15403 GBP/EUR (2022: 1.1271
GBP/EUR).
Managing
capital
The Company's equity comprises Ordinary Shares as
described in Note 16. Capital is managed so as to maximise the
return to shareholders while maintaining a capital base that allows
the Company to operate effectively and sustain future development
of the business.
The Company considers its capital to comprise
called-up share capital and net available cash.
The Company's capital requirement is reviewed
regularly by the Board of Directors.
24. Transactions with
the Investment Manager and related parties
The amounts paid to the Investment Manager, together
with the details of the Investment Management Agreement, are
disclosed in Note 2. The Company's related parties are its
Directors. The fees paid to the Company's Board are disclosed in
the Directors' remuneration report on pages 96 to 100 of the full
Annual Report and Accounts. There were no outstanding amounts due
for Directors' fees as at 31 December 2023 (2022: £nil).
25. Post balance
sheet events
Buybacks
Since the year end, the Company has bought back 3.1
million Ordinary Shares at a total cost of £2.6 million.
Revolving
credit facility
On 18 March 2024 the Company agreed an extension to
its £115 million RCF, resetting its maturity to March 2027.
AIFMD disclosures
The Company is an Alternative Investment Fund (AIF)
for the purposes of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers
Directive
(Directive 2011/61/EU) (AIFMD), and the Investment
Manager was appointed as its Alternative Investment Fund Manager
(AIFM) for the purposes of the AIFMD. The Investment Manager
is a 'full scope' AIFM for the purposes of the AIFMD.
The AIFMD requires certain disclosures to be made in the
annual report of the Company. Many of these disclosures are
already required by the Listing Rules and/or UK Accounting
Standards, and these continue to be presented in other sections of
the annual report, principally the strategic report, the Investment
Manager's report (above and on pages 20 to 37 of the full Annual
Report and Accounts) and the financial statements (above and pages
106 to 135). This section completes the disclosures required
by the AIFMD.
Assets subject to
special arrangements
The Company holds no assets subject to special
arrangements arising from their illiquid nature.
Remuneration
disclosure
The total number of staff of the Investment Manager as
at 31 December 2023, including staff remunerated by
affiliates of the Investment Manager, was approximately 457,
of whom 23 were senior management or other members of staff
whose actions have a material impact on the risk profile of the
Company ('identified staff'). The total remuneration paid by
the Investment Manager and its affiliates to staff of the
Investment Manager in respect of the year ended
31 December 2023 attributable to work relating to the
Company was as follows:
|
12 months to 31 December 2023
|
12 months to 31 December
2022
|
£'000
|
Fixed
|
Variable
|
Total
|
Fixed
|
Variable
|
Total
|
Senior management
|
73
|
109
|
182
|
70
|
96
|
166
|
Staff
|
235
|
144
|
379
|
190
|
143
|
333
|
Total
staff
|
308
|
254
|
562
|
260
|
238
|
499
|
Identified staff
|
42
|
58
|
100
|
44
|
61
|
105
|
No carried interest was paid in respect of the Company
during the period.
The above disclosures reflect only that element of the
individuals' remuneration which is attributable to the activities
of the Investment Manager relating to the Company. It is not
possible to attribute remuneration paid to individual staff
directly to any fund and hence the above figures represent a
notional approximation only calculated by reference to the assets
under management of the Company as a proportion of the total assets
under management of the Pantheon Group.
In determining the remuneration paid to its staff, the
Investment Manager takes into account a number of factors including
the performance of the Company, the Investment Manager and each
individual member of staff. These factors are considered over
a multi-year framework and include whether staff have met the
Investment Manager's compliance standards. In addition, the
Investment Manager seeks to ensure that its remuneration policies
and practices align financial incentives for staff with the risks
undertaken and results achieved by investors, for example by
ensuring that a proportion of the variable income received by
identified staff is deferred for a period of at least three
years.
Full details of the Pantheon Group's remuneration
policies and practices for staff (which includes the Investment
Manager's staff) can be found at www.pantheon.com.
The AIFMD requires the Investment Manager of the
Company to set leverage limits for the Company.
For the purposes of the AIFMD, leverage is any method by
which the Company's exposure is increased, whether through the
borrowing of cash or by the use of derivatives or by any other
means. The AIFMD requires leverage to be expressed as a ratio
between the Company's exposure and its NAV and prescribes two
methodologies, the gross method and the commitment method (as set
out in Commission Delegated Regulation No. 231/2013), for
calculating such exposure.
The following leverage limits have been set for the
Company:
i. the maximum leverage
of the Company calculated in accordance with the gross method
(under Article 7 of Commission Delegated Regulation
No.231/2013) is 450%; and
ii. the maximum leverage of
the Company calculated in accordance with the commitment method
(under Article 8 of the AIFMD Regulation) is 450%.
Using the methodologies prescribed under the AIFMD,
the Company's leverage as at 31 December 2023 is shown
below:
|
|
Commitment
|
|
Gross method
|
method
|
Leverage ratio
|
202%
|
100%
|
There have been no changes to the maximum level of
leverage which the Investment Manager may employ on behalf of the
Company during the year to 31 December 2023.
There are no collateral or asset reuse arrangements in place
as at the year end.
Risk profile and risk
management
The principal risks to which the Company is exposed to
and the approach to managing those risks are set out in the
strategic report (above and on pages 68 to 71 of the full Annual
Report and Accounts) and also in Note 23 to the financial
statements (above and on pages 132 to 135 of the full Annual Report
and Accounts). The investment restrictions which seek to mitigate
some of those principal risks in relation to the Company's
investment activities are set out in the investment policy (above
and on page 39 of the full Annual Report and Accounts) and under
'Board responsibilities and relationship with the Investment
Manager' in the Statement on Corporate Governance (page 79 to
84 of the full Annual Report and Accounts). Additionally, the
individual counterparty exposure limit for deposits with each of
the Company's bank counterparties has been set at c.£135 million or
the equivalent in foreign currencies. The Investment Manager's risk
management system incorporates regular review of the principal
risks facing the Company and the investment restrictions applicable
to the Company. The Investment Manager has established
appropriate internal control processes to mitigate the risks,
including those described in the 'Mitigation' column in the
'Principal risk and uncertainties' section of the strategic report
(above or pages 68 to 71of the full Annual Report and Accounts).
These investment restrictions were not exceeded in the year
to 31 December 2023.
Article 23(1)
disclosures to investors
The AIFMD requires certain information to be made
available to investors in the Company before they invest and
requires that material changes to this information be disclosed in
the annual report of the Company. The information required to be
disclosed is contained in the document 'Information for Investors',
which is available on the Company's website at
www.pantheoninfrastructure.com. There have been no material changes
to this information requiring disclosure.
Glossary
AGM
Annual General Meeting.
AIC
The Association of Investment Companies.
AIC Code
The AIC Code of Corporate Governance.
AIFM
Alternative Investment Fund Manager.
Approved investment
trust company
An approved investment trust company is a corporate UK
tax resident which fulfils particular UK tax requirements and rules
which include that for the Company to undertake portfolio
investment activity it must aim to spread investment risk.
In addition, the Company's shares must be listed on an
approved stock exchange. The 'approved' status for an investment
trust must be authorised by the UK tax authorities and its key
benefit is that a portion of the profits of the Company,
principally its capital profits, are not taxable in
the UK.
AUM
Assets under management are the total market value of
investments held under management by an individual or institution.
When referring to Pantheon's AUM, this figure includes assets
managed on a fully discretionary basis.
Carbon Disclosure
Projects
A not-for-profit charity that runs the global
disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and
regions to manage their environmental impacts.
Carried
interest
Portion of realised investment gains payable to a
Sponsor as a profit share.
Cloud
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of
computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage)
and computing power, without direct active management by the
user.
Co-investment
Direct shareholding in an investment by invitation
alongside a Sponsor.
Commitment
The amount of capital that the Company agrees to
contribute to an investment when and as called by the
Sponsor.
Company
Pantheon Infrastructure Plc or 'PINT'.
DCF
Discounted Cash Flow.
Exit
Realisation of an investment, usually through trade
sale, sale by public offering (including IPO), or sale to
a financial buyer.
Funds under
management
Funds under management includes both assets under
management and assets under advisory (assets managed on a
non-discretionary basis and/or advisory basis).
GHG
Greenhouse gas.
GIRAC
Pantheon's Global Infrastructure and Real Assets
Committee.
IEA
International Energy Agency.
Initial public
offering (IPO)
The first offering by a company of its own shares to
the public on a regulated stock exchange.
Internet of
things
The network of physical objects (things) that are
embedded with technologies such as sensors or software for the
purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices
and systems via the internet.
Investment
Manager
Pantheon Ventures (UK) LLP.
Investment
thesis
Pantheon's final stage of approval for infrastructure
co-investments.
IPEV
International Private Equity and Venture Capital.
IRR
Internal rate of return is the annual rate of growth
that an investment is expected to generate over its life.
Latency
The delay before a transfer of data begins following
an instruction for its transfer.
Market
capitalisation
Share price multiplied by the number of shares
outstanding.
Multiple of invested
capital (MOIC or cost multiple)
A common measure of private equity performance, MOIC
is calculated by dividing a fund's cumulative distributions and
residual value by the paid‑in capital.
NAV Total
Return
This is expressed as a percentage. It is calculated as
the total return as shown in the Income statement, as a percentage
of the opening NAV.
Net asset value
(NAV)
Amount by which the value of assets of a company
exceeds its liabilities.
PIH LP
Pantheon Infrastructure Holdings LP
Portfolio or
operating company
A company that PINT invests in. These portfolio or
operating companies in turn own and operate
infrastructure assets.
Primaries
Commitments made to private equity funds at the time
such funds are formed.
RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland.
RCF
Revolving credit facility.
Science Based
Targets
Science-based targets provide companies with a
clearly-defined path to reduce emissions in line with the Paris
Agreement goals.
Secondaries
Purchase of existing private equity fund or company
interests and commitments from an investor seeking liquidity in
such funds or companies.
SFDR
Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
SMR
Steam methane reforming.
Sponsor or general
partner
The entity managing a private equity fund that has
been established as a limited partnership.
TCFD
Task Force for Climate-related Financial
Disclosures.
Total
return
This is expressed as a percentage. The denominator is
the opening NAV, net of the final dividend for the previous year,
and adjusted (on a time weighted average basis) to take into
account any equity capital raised or capital returned in the year.
The numerator is total NAV growth and dividends paid.
Total shareholder
return
Return based on dividends paid plus share price
movement in the period, divided by the opening share price.
WADR
Weighted average discount rate based on each
investment's relative proportion of Portfolio valuation.
Directors and advisers
Directors
Vagn Sørensen (Chair)
Anne Baldock
Andrea Finegan
Patrick O'Donnell Bourke
Investment
Manager
Pantheon Ventures
(UK) LLP
Authorised and regulated by the FCA
10 Finsbury Square
4th Floor
London
EC2A 1AF
Email: pint@pantheon.com
PINT website: www.pantheoninfrastructure.com
Pantheon website: www.pantheon.com
Secretary and
registered office
Link Company Matters
Limited
6th Floor, 65 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7NQ
Telephone: +44 (0)333 300 1950
Auditor
Ernst & Young
LLP
25 Churchill Place
London
E14 5EY
Communications
Adviser
Lansons
Communications Holdings Limited
24a St John Street
London
EC1M 4AY
Broker
Investec Bank
plc
30 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7QP
Depositary
BNP Paribas Trust
Corporation UK Limited
10 Harewood Avenue
London
NW16 6AA
Registrar
Link Group
10th Floor
Central Square
29 Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 4DL
Solicitors
Hogan Lovells
International LLP
Atlantic House
Holborn Viaduct
London
EC1A 2FG
Disclosure 1 - Investments
This annual report provides information about certain
investments made by PINT. It should NOT be regarded as a
recommendation. Pantheon makes no representation or forecast about
the performance, profitability or success of such investments. You
should not assume that future investments will be profitable or
will equal the performance of past recommendations. The statements
made reflect the views and opinions of Pantheon as of the date of
the investment analysis.
FURTHER INFORMATION
PINT's Annual Report and Accounts
for the year ended 31 December 2023 will be available today
on www.pantheoninfrastructure.com
Shortly, it will also be submitted
in full unedited text to the Financial Conduct Authority's National
Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection
at data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism in
accordance with DTR 6.3.5(1A) of the Financial Conduct Authority's
Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Neither the contents of the
Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from
hyperlinks on this announcement (or any other website) is
incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
ENDS