APG and Whitehelm Capital, on behalf of the Smart City Infrastructure Fund, have agreed to partner with SiFi Networks America to invest over $75 million in the deployment of Smart-City ready digital infrastructure in the City of Fullerton, California. The investment will enable the roll-out of the largest privately funded open access fiber network by SiFi in North America.
Arjan Reinders, Head of Infrastructure Europe at APG said “as a long term responsible investor, we are very excited to announce the partnership with SiFi to support investments that promote the development of sustainable societies across select urban areas in the United States.”
The project that will be carried out in the City of Fullerton meets the investment objective of the Smart City Infrastructure Fund to improve quality of life and upgrade a city’s physical infrastructure by way of increased digitization.
Fullerton has a population of approximately 135,000, with some 50,000 homes and 5,000 businesses. The fiber network will cover the entire municipality area. It is expected that between 33% to 50% of broadband customers (residential and commercial) will migrate to the new network over time. The network will also be used by the municipality to deliver city-wide services, such as wi-fi, public sensors, traffic control signals, CCTV operations, streetlighting control systems, and catch basin flood sensors.
Arjan: “We expect attractive long term revenues from this investment in Smart City infrastructure, due to the chosen commercial strategy. We also see potential for additional growth.”
The Smart City Infrastructure Fund – the first of its kind globally – was established by APG and Whitehelm Capital in November 2018 to provide long-term funding for Smart City infrastructure projects enabling cities and communities to become more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The Fund was launched with in initial commitment of €250 million from APG.
“We are seeing a strong pipeline of similar projects worldwide, where APG and the Smart City Infrastructure Fund intend to play a critical role in bridging the funding gap to deliver innovative Smart City solutions for city governments. Today’s announcement fits the long term goals of ABP and other pension fund clients we work for.”
The investment was done on behalf of ABP and PPF APG.