UBS Asset Management has launched its second infrastructure debt fund with EUR448.4m of seed commitments from insurance companies and pension funds.

UBS AM’s Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) said Archmore Infrastructure Debt Platform II (IDP II) received the commitments from nine investors spread across five European countries and Japan.

Over 75% of these institutions, made up of a mix of insurance companies and pension funds, are also invested in the previous fund Archmore Infrastructure Debt Platform I (IDP I), it said.

The fund manager said IDP I, which closed in September 2016, is now 94% deployed and has a strong pipeline of attractive new investment opportunities.

IDP II will be managed by an investment team led by Tommaso Albanese, the fund’s CIO, based in London.

IDP II will focus on private infrastructure debt opportunities, primarily through direct lending.

The plan is to take advantage of the continued capital supply/demand imbalance in the mid-size European infrastructure investment market, where borrowers are seeking alternative sources of capital, it said.

Albanese, who also heads infrastructure at REPM, said: “Our ability to effectively deploy the proceeds of our debut infrastructure debt fund so swiftly and the fact that we have attracted such substantial seed commitments,  largely from repeat investors, is testament to the ability of our team to access the excellent investment opportunities in the European market.”