Castlepines Corporation is an international equity fund that invests in major assets for secure, long-term yields.

Castlepines Corporation

 

Castlepines Corporation is an international equity fund that invests its own and partner equity in major assets for secure, long-term yields.

 

Castlepines principally operates in the following sectors:

 

Mining and resources;

Power generation and utilities;

Real estate; and

Shipping and marine.

Castlepines seeks to purchase long-term, conservatively-yielding assets that provide a secure passive income stream. Equity is sourced from Castlepines’ own pension funds, large public pension funds and the pension funds of insurance companies. Castlepines has developed an investment model that provides access to substantial pension fund capital relatively quickly and efficiently. This capital is provided through one or more of our partner banks that act as pension fund advisers.

 

Castlepines’ typical investment term is 20 years or longer. Because we focus on secure long-term investments, equity costs to amortise capital and provide a return on equity are relatively low, well under double digits. If an investment term is shorter than 20 years, higher yields are required to enable Castlepines to amortise the capital over the shorter period.

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Castlepines are investors, not lenders. We invest directly into certain projects and assets, taking a direct ownership interest. Castlepines generally takes no form of security over an asset, which normally means no mortgage, charge, loan or lien.

Castlepines is a passive investor and does not seek to actively participate in the operations of assets or control the board of asset operating companies.

 

 

Benefits from a Castlepines investment

 

A Castlepines investment can provide companies with an opportunity to retrieve significant capital tied up in passive, low growth assets that provide marginal returns, and to use those funds in more profitable areas. Assets sold to Castlepines can then be leased back for long periods at relatively low rates. The increased liquidity realised through a Castlepines investment can improve ratings and credit standing with lenders and suppliers.

 

The Castlepines approach can also be utilised by governments to enable them to focus on service delivery, rather than locking up funds through ownership of low commercial yield assets. Through sale of these unproductive assets and lease-back at low rates, capital can be released and deployed by governments in more needed areas. Castlepines investment in building new public assets is an alternative to government capital expenditure.

 

The Castlepines difference

 

Castlepines differs from many other equity and hedge funds by:

 

Making all-equity investments for 20 years or longer, rather than short term debt-funded investments followed by asset sale or refinancing;

Having lower yield expectations and an exceptionally low cost of capital, through its long-term all-equity investment model;

Providing fixed terms and yields over the investment term;

Security on assets normally not being required; and

Taking no part in asset management decisions.

 

Castlepines investment model will suit many worthwhile projects that would normally only be successful if such a long-term and low-cost approach were taken.

 

View Castlepines brochure

 

Castlepines Equity All Rights Reserved 2014

 

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Investment Model

Castlepines Corporation's investment focus is on secure, long-term equity investments in major assets. Of importance to Castlepines is a stable basic yield, small annual inflationary increases and all income being net of outgoings/costs. 

The key to any Castlepines investment is ensuring that the return or coupon on the equity that partner pension funds have contributed is secure, date-certain and sum-certain for the full investment term, and that the payer is ‘investment grade’.

Investment Strategy

The key elements of Castlepines’ investment strategy are: 

• Investing in assets with a purchase price typically greater than US$100 million or equivalents in local currency
• Assets leased by a strong entity for the investment term, normally 20 years or longer. Shorter terms are possible but require a higher yield. Assets are leased under a triple net lease structure or a bareboat charter basis for shipping. Alternatively, the assets can be operated under operations and maintenance, and off-take contracts for the investment term; and
• An agreed annual inflationary increase on coupon payments (commonly 3%).

Managing investment risk

Castlepines adopts a suite of risk management strategies to ensure the security of an investment. This includes ensuring: 

• Strong entities as counter-parties (e.g. lessee, charterer or off-taker, as appropriate);
• Where assets are to be constructed, substantial builders with performance guarantees and/or a completion bond, who are engaged under a fixed-priced turn-key engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts;
• Substantial operators and managers that are prepared to provide operations and maintenance agreements for the investment term and/or a maintenance contract for the same term with an annual non-use fee, where appropriate. Alternatively, any off-taker would need to accept contractual step-in rights in the event there is a serious break in production; and
• Any feedstock risk is managed through agreed feedstock quantum and base price contracts with a strong supplier for the same term as the off-take, with a floor and/or collar price to the feedstock to ensure its affordability throughout the term; and
• Synchronicity of the key contractual arrangements for a project. For example, off-take, operations and maintenance, and feedstock contracts must match the investment term.

Castlepines defines a “strong entity” as being rated as investment grade by Standard & Poor’s (minimum BBB rating) or Moody’s (minimum Baa rating). Each key counter-party to a project or asset must be investment grade, or a world class company with a substantial balance sheet and wrapped by a minimum AA- rated insurer.

Where a potential counter-party is not investment grade or not rated at all, Castlepines may deal with that company provided it sells its product or service to an investment grade off-take party. Agreements to buy or supply the product/resource/service over the investment term are then required to secure revenues.

In the case of depreciating assets (e.g. plant, equipment, wiring), a conservative yield  is required, marginally above property yields. Castlepines may be prepared to make available in advance all the capital required to permit the vendor/lessee to upgrade its equipment once or twice throughout the lease, so that the life and effectiveness of the equipment is maintained until investment/lease end.

Castlepines is seeking only conservatively-leased assets and is not sensitive to pricing of those assets. Market valuation is therefore normally not required prior to purchase.  

Castlepines has no expertise in asset management. It therefore has no interest in this activity during the term of its investment.  All maintenance issues and daily operations are managed and paid for by an asset’s tenant, lessee or charterer. 

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Korea Joongang Daily 07.03 Mon

National

 

Mirae Asset in talks to finance resort in Yeosu

Aug 16,2016

이미지뷰

A consortium led by Mirae Asset Financial Group and U.K.-based investment firm Castlepines has been selected as a preferred bidder to build an ocean resort complex worth 1.1 trillion won ($998.4 million) on Gyeong Island in Yeosu, South Jeolla.

 

Mirae is the lead investor with a 70 percent stake while Castlepines holds a 30 percent share. The Korean financial firm continues to expand its real estate investments as it can ensure a steady cash stream with relatively high returns in an era of low interest rates.

 

The firm’s previous moves were property investments centered on landmarks and office buildings abroad. Mirae-owned properties are in Vietnam, China and the United States.

 

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo said that he saw the potential in the region as the ideal site for a luxury resort, backed by a growing number of tourists. A total of 13 million people both from other cities and foreign countries visited the city in 2015, up 31.3 percent over a year ago.

 

“Yeosu is endowed with better conditions for tourism than Singapore,” Park said in a meeting with Yeosu Mayor Joo Cheol-hyun Friday.

 

“I thought there is no reason to find other properties in Southeast Asia since we have Yeosu in Korea.”

 

Chairman Park also noted the relatively high yield compared to other financial assets directly affected by interest rates.

 

If selected, Mirae plans to funnel 342.3 billion won to purchase the 2.1 million-square-meter (22.9-million square-foot) site and invest 750 billion won to construct a resort that would house a hotel, yacht club, marine cable cars and a water park. Jeonnam Development Corp., a state-run body, is scheduled to announce the investor by early September.

 

The ballooning size of Mirae’s alternative investments reflect the group’s appetite on the real estate market.

 

Mirae and its affiliates have purchased five offshore properties this year alone, taking the value of its property acquisitions to more than 2.5 trillion won. The combined figure for the first six months of this year accounts for half of all property investments made by the group since 2006.

 

In line with the trend, Mirae Asset Global Investments, an asset management affiliate, recently drastically increased its alternative investment options, including properties.

 

Alternative investments refer to non-traditional assets such as private equity funds, real estate and infrastructure investment.

 

The total amount of alternative investments managed by Mirae Asset Global Investments was 8.8 trillion won as of Aug.9, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association.

 

 

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]

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Castlepines Corporation, an international investment company, invests equity in a range of infrastructure assets in Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It invests in renewable energy assets, such as geothermal power, waste-to-energy, biomass and bio-diesel power, bio-ethanol power, waste disposal, and solar plants, as well as forests and wind-farms; water assets that include dams, pipelines, de-salination plants, water purification plants, and sewerage systems; and shipping assets, including tankers and LNG, and port infrastructure. The company also invests in natural resources-energy assets, such as new and existing forests, oil, iron ore, gas, grave...

Castlepines Corporation, an international investment company, invests equity in a range of infrastructure assets in Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It invests in renewable energy assets, such as geothermal power, waste-to-energy, biomass and bio-diesel power, bio-ethanol power, waste disposal, and solar plants, as well as forests and wind-farms; water assets that include dams, pipelines, de-salination plants, water purification plants, and sewerage systems; and shipping assets, including tankers and LNG, and port infrastructure. The company also invests in natural resources-energy assets, such as new and existing forests, oil, iron ore, gas, gravel pits, and coal, as well as facilities to assist the above to operate. In addition, it invests in other assets, such as office, industrial, and retail properties; airport facilities/aircraft; highways; telco infrastructure; rail infrastructure/railway stations; railway carriages; vineyards; theme parks; municipal chambers and facilities; hospitals; police stations; universities/schools; prisons; hotels; and financial assets, including mortgage books and long-dated factoring. Castlepines Corporation was founded in 2005 and is based in Sydney, Australia.

Detailed Description

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미래에셋, 여수에 1조 투자… 레저 대단지 개발

입력 : 2016-08-09 22:54 ㅣ 수정 : 2016-08-09 23:37

전남道와 우선협상 1순위 선정

英 캐슬파인즈와 컨소시엄 구성  
경도에 호텔·워터파크 등 건설 

▲ 박현주 미래에셋 회장

미래에셋 컨소시엄이 전남 여수 경도해양관광단지에 1조 883억원을 투자해 아시아 최고 수준의 해양 관광·레저 단지를 개발키로 했다. 이 금액은 전남 지역에 이뤄진 관광·레저 분야 투자로는 사상 최대 규모이다. 

이낙연 전남지사는 9일 도청에서 기자회견을 갖고 “입찰에 참여한 3개 국제컨소시엄 가운데 미래에셋 컨소시엄이 투자 신뢰도와 지역경제 활성화 계획 등 전남개발공사가 제시한 조건을 잘 갖춰 우선협상대상자 1순위로 선정했다”고 밝혔다.

미래에셋 컨소시엄은 골프장과 콘도 등이 포함된 경도해양관광단지를 3423억원에 일괄 매입한 뒤 향후 5년간 7500억원을 투입해 호텔과 빌라, 요트, 워터파크 등 명품 복합 리조트를 건설한다. 미래에셋 컨소시엄은 사업 제안서에서 천혜의 자연경관을 품은 여수 경도에 아시아 최고 힐링 리조트를 조성함으로써 다도해 해양 관광 클러스터를 구축하는 계기를 마련하겠다고 밝혔다. 

이 컨소시엄은 이달 중 외국인 투자기업을 설립하고 연말까지 전남개발공사와 투자 규모, 시설, 대금 납부 조건 등에 관한 협상을 마무리할 계획이다. 최종 우선협상대상자 선정은 이달 말이나 다음달 초로 예정돼 있고 본계약은 11월쯤 체결할 계획이다. 최근 대우증권을 인수해 국내 최대 금융그룹에 오른 미래에셋 금융그룹은 영국계 국제 투자회사 캐슬파인즈와 7대3으로 출자해 미래에셋 컨소시엄을 구성했다. 캐슬파인즈는 호주, 일본, 유럽 등에 법인을 설립해 자원개발과 전력 생산, 부동산 개발 등에서 약 5조원의 자금을 운용하는 것으로 알려졌다.

이 지사는 “박현주 회장은 아시아 최고의 리조트 시설을 갖춰 전남 관광·레저산업 수준을 최대한 높이겠다는 꿈을 가진 만큼 사업추진 과정에서 총사업비가 늘어날 수 있다”며 “경도에 복합리조트가 조성되면 전남 서남해안권에 투자가 이어지는 기폭제가 될 것”이라고 말했다. 

전남개발공사는 총 212만 7000㎡ 규모의 경도해양관광단지에 1단계 사업으로 27홀 골프장, 100실 규모의 콘도, 오토캠핑장 등을 이미 조성했다. 이 관광단지는 골프장과 콘도에서 흑자를 내고 있으나 대규모 사업비 투입에 따른 금융비용 때문에 경영개선을 요구받아 왔으며 도와 공사는 민간자본 유치를 위해 노력해 왔다. 또 올해는 부동산 투자이민제 시행 기간을 2023년까지 5년 연장받았고, 경도를 광양만권 경제자유구역에 편입하도록 정부에 건의해 왔다

[출처: 서울신문에서 제공하는 기사입니다.] http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20160810019011#csidxc46b83995baad9a868f167c36353a13