Image: Vector MeteringQIC has reached contractual close for its joint venture deal with Vector Limited’s New Zealand and Australian smart metering business – Vector Metering – the largest provider of its kind across Australia and New Zealand.
The acquisition, which remains subject to regulatory approvals, follows Vector’s announcement in December 2022 of QIC as its preferred joint venture partner.
The deal consists of a sale by Vector of a 50 per cent interest in Vector Metering which will be held and managed by QIC Infrastructure on behalf of investors and co-investors.
Vector Metering owns and/or manages over 2.3 million meters across the electricity and gas markets in Australia and New Zealand.
QIC’s Head of Infrastructure, Ross Israel said it is another demonstration of their strong commitment to a sector centric and thematic based investment strategy of which energy transition is a core focus.
“With this investment, QIC Infrastructure’s global investments supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy have grown to A$5 billion. Our energy platform assets also aim to invest more than A$15 billion in the energy transition over the next five years,” Mr Israel said.
“Smart meters have a critical role to play in the decarbonisation of electricity supply in both Australia and New Zealand. Their role is rapidly evolving from data processing for timely billing purposes. They are an enabler for electricity networks to manage an ever-increasing volume and volatility of electricity supply due to the broader energy transition and increasing penetration of renewable generation,” he said.
“The electricity mass market is Vector Metering’s core competency. The business is the leading provider in New Zealand where we believe its significant scale will support future growth and the extensive roll-out of smart meters in Australia. The latter opportunity represents further growth and investment for the company,” Mr Israel said.
Mr Patrick Mulholland, Senior Principal – Infrastructure, QIC, who led the deal, said QIC’s deep industry experience and extensive relationships across Australia and New Zealand will be critical elements in further refining and enhancing Vector Metering’s business plan and strategy, and have positioned QIC as the partner of choice for Vector Ltd. “Both Vector and QIC bring complementary skills to the business that will support it financially and strategically to grow and enable the energy transition,” Mr Mulholland said.
Advisors to the deal were JP Morgan, Craigs Investment Partners, Herbert Smith Freehills and Russell McVeagh.
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QIC is a long-term infrastructure investor with an established international platform, an active management approach and a proven 17-year track record. With an international team of 87 professionals across five offices, QIC Infrastructure manages A$32.8bn (US$22.4bn) across 22 international direct investments and has realised in excess of A$15.2bn back to its clients. QIC has managed A$7.1bn in Australian energy assets since 2007 across the energy value chain (as at 31 December 2023).
Vector is an innovative New Zealand energy company which runs a portfolio of businesses delivering energy and communication services to more than one million homes and commercial customers across Australasia and the Pacific. Vector is leading the country in creating a new energy future through its Symphony strategy which puts customers at the heart of the energy system. Vector is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange with ticker symbol VCT. Our majority shareholder, with voting rights of 75.1%, is Entrust. For further information, visit www.vector.co.nz.
Vector Metering is a smart metering business which provides innovative smart meter data services from more than two million electricity and gas meters throughout New Zealand and Australia.
QIC Limited ACN 130 539 123 (“QIC”) is a wholesale funds manager and its products and services are not directly available to, and this document may not be provided to any, retail clients. QIC is a company government owned corporation constituted under the Queensland Investment Corporation Act 1991 (QLD). QIC is also regulated by State Government legislation pertaining to government owned corporations in addition to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (“Corporations Act”). QIC does not hold an Australian financial services (“AFS”) licence and certain provisions (including the financial product disclosure provisions) of the Corporations Act do not apply to QIC. Other wholly owned subsidiaries of QIC do hold AFS licences and are required to comply with relevant provisions of the Corporations Act. QIC also has wholly owned subsidiaries authorised, registered or licensed by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Korean Financial Services Commission.
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