Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 1, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

David Krant - Chief Financial Officer

Sam Pollock - Chief Executive Officer

Ben Vaughan - Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

Cherilyn Radbourne - TD Cowen

Robert Kwan - RBC Capital Markets

Devin Dodge - BMO Capital Markets

Frederic Bastien - Raymond James

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Fourth Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, David Krant, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

David Krant

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. As introduced, my name is David Krant, and I'm the Chief Financial Officer of Brookfield Infrastructure. I'm joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Sam Pollock; and our Chief Operating Officer, Ben Vaughan.

I'll begin the call today with a discussion of our 2023 financial and operating results, followed by some brief remarks on our access to capital and recent financing initiatives. I'll then turn the call over to Ben, who will discuss the merits of investing boldly during periods of capital scarcity. Finally, Sam will provide an update on our recent acquisitions and will conclude with an outlook for the business.

At this time, I would like to remind you that in our remarks today, we may make forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, and future results may differ materially. For further information on known risk factors, I would encourage you to review our annual report on Form 20-F, which is available on our website.

2023 was another successful year for Brookfield Infrastructure. We executed many of our strategic priorities across all areas of our business. Some of our key accomplishments include closing over $2 billion of new investments, generating $1.9 billion of total proceeds from capital recycling, obtaining a second investment grade credit rating and maintaining our financial strength during a capital constrained year.

I'm also pleased to report that we exited 2023 on a high note with fourth quarter funds from operations of $0.79 per unit, a 10% increase over prior year levels. Considering these strong results and favorable outlook for 2024, the Board of Directors have approved a quarterly distribution increase of 6% to $1.62 per unit and share on an annualized basis. This marks the 15th consecutive year of distribution increases.