Mr. Sam Pollock reports

BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE REPORTS THIRD QUARTER 2023 RESULTS

BROOKFIELD, NEWS, Nov. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (Brookfield Infrastructure, BIP, or the Partnership) (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN) today announced its results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

"We had strong financial results and delivered on all of our strategic initiatives to date in 2023," said Sam Pollock, Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. "We have demonstrated our ability to use our size, scale and diversification to continue recycling capital at good valuations, while investing at higher returns on our new investments."

Brookfield Infrastructure reported net income of $104 million for the three-month period ended September 30, 2023 compared to $113 million in the prior year. Current year results benefited from the contribution associated with recently completed acquisitions and organic growth across our base business. These positive impacts were partially offset by higher borrowing costs associated with the financing of growth initiatives and lower gains on currency and commodity contracts than in the same period last year.

Funds from operations (FFO) in the quarter was $560 million, a 7% increase compared with the same period last year. Results benefited from strong base business performance reflecting higher tariffs and the commissioning of approximately $1 billion of capital projects in the past 12 months. Our financial results do not reflect the benefit of new investments this year and we are conversely impacted by nearly $2 billion of asset sales that primarily closed in the second quarter of 2023. The fourth quarter will fully reflect the contributions of our new investments, which closed right before, or subsequent to, September 30.

Segment Performance

The utilities segment generated FFO of $229 million, an increase of 17% from the comparable period last year. Organic growth for the segment was over 10%, reflecting inflation indexation and the commissioning of approximately $500 million of capital into the rate base during the last 12 months. Current quarter results benefited from the expansion of our residential decarbonization infrastructure platform in North America and Europe, following the acquisition of HomeServe in January 2023. This positive contribution was partially offset by the sale of our interest in an Australian regulated utility in August of this year.

The transport segment generated FFO of $205 million for the quarter, with organic growth of 7% compared to the same period last year. Rates across the portfolio have broadly increased, with our global toll road tariffs increasing by 8% and our rail networks passing through rate increases of 7% compared to the same period last year. Volumes remained consistent, reinforcing the criticality of our assets despite softness in the broader global transportation network. Partially offsetting the strong underlying operational performance were higher borrowing costs at our U.K. port operations, the normalization of commodity prices at our U.S. LNG export terminal and the sale of our Indian toll road portfolio that was completed in June 2023.

FFO from our midstream segment was $163 million, a 5% decrease compared to the prior period, due to the partial sale of our interest in a U.S. gas pipeline in June of this year and the normalization of market sensitive revenues at our Canadian diversified midstream business. Results were supported by increased utilization and higher contracted cash flows across the segment compared to last year, as well as the initial contribution from the Heartland Petrochemical Complex.

FFO from our data segment was $66 million, an increase of 10% from the same period last year. The increase is attributable to the acquisitions of a European telecom tower operation in February 2023 and a European hyperscale data center platform that closed in August. The prior period included contributions from a New Zealand integrated data distribution business that was sold in June of this year.

Update on Strategic Initiatives

The market backdrop has created a strong environment for capital deployment, with returns on new investments expected to be well in excess of our 12-15% target. Our 2023 deployment is expected to provide us with some of the best risk-adjusted returns we have seen in the last decade. The take-private of Triton, our global intermodal logistics operation, closed on September 28. Brookfield Infrastructure invested approximately $1.2 billion for a 28% interest, funded primarily using new BIPC shares as transaction consideration. We expect to generate a base case IRR above our targets, derived largely from the in-place cash yield. The leading market position and highly cash generative nature of the business provides strong operational flexibility to invest in fleet replacements and growth during favorable markets, or to harvest cash in less attractive markets.

We are also very excited about the opportunities across our data center platform, which has grown significantly following the acquisitions of Data4 and Compass that closed in August and October, respectively. Most recently, we reached an agreement to acquire a portfolio of data centers out of bankruptcy from Cyxtera, as well as the associated real estate underlying several of the sites from third-party landlords. We believe we will generate strategic value by combining Cyxtera with Evoque to create a leading retail colocation data center provider, with over 330 megawatts of capacity deployed in high demand areas across North America. The combined platform will have the scale, assets and capabilities required to provide critical infrastructure for its over 2,500 customers to support the exponential increase in demand from industry tailwinds, including AI and cloud deployments.

The total purchase price for the data centers and associated real estate underlying the sites is approximately $1.3 billion, inclusive of transaction costs and net of proceeds received from concurrently selling non-core Cyxtera sites to a third-party. Funding has been secured and will be collateralized by the combined portfolio of Cyxtera's and Evoque's data centers and associated real estate. As part of this transformative transaction, cash flow for the combined entity will undergo a step-change improvement from the real estate acquisitions, financial synergies and lease savings negotiated with Cyxtera's third-party landlords during the bankruptcy process. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2024 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Distribution and Dividend Declaration

The Board of Directors of BIP has declared a quarterly distribution in the amount of $0.3825 per unit, payable on December 29, 2023 to unitholders of record as at the close of business on November 30, 2023. This distribution represents a 6% increase compared to the prior year. The regular quarterly dividends on the Cumulative Class A Preferred Limited Partnership Units, Series 1, Series 3, Series 9, Series 11, Series 13 and Series 14 have also been declared, as well as the capital gains dividend for BIP Investment Corporation Senior Preferred Shares, Series 1. In conjunction with the Partnership's distribution declaration, the Board of Directors of BIPC has declared an equivalent quarterly dividend of $0.3825 per share, also payable on December 29, 2023 to shareholders of record as at the close of business on November 30, 2023.

Conference Call and Quarterly Earnings Details

Investors, analysts and other interested parties can access Brookfield Infrastructure's Third Quarter 2023 Results, as well as Letter to Unitholders and Supplemental Information, under the Investor Relations section at https:// bip .brookfield.com .

To participate in the Conference Call today at 9:00am EST, please pre-register at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI95ca4eecbc3047b5b1db2c6bf574df34 . Upon registering, you will be emailed a dial-in number, direct passcode and unique PIN. The Conference Call will also be Webcast live at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/ozkjpybg .

Additional Information

The Board has reviewed and approved this news release, including the summarized unaudited financial information contained herein.

About Brookfield Infrastructure

Brookfield Infrastructure is a leading global infrastructure company that owns and operates high-quality, long-life assets in the utilities, transport, midstream and data sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. We are focused on assets that have contracted and regulated revenues that generate predictable and stable cash flows. Investors can access its portfolio either through Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN), a Bermuda-based limited partnership, or Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (NYSE, TSX: BIPC), a Canadian corporation. Further information is available at http:// bip.brookfield.com .

Brookfield Infrastructure is the flagship listed infrastructure company of Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with over $850 billion of assets under management.

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