Essex Pension Fund is tendering a £100m (€117m) infrastructure mandate.

According to the EU tender service TED, the fund is looking to allocate 2% of its assets to an unlisted vehicle focused on UK, European or global assets.

Both open-ended and closed-end solutions will be considered.

A 2% allocation to one manager and a 1% allocation to two managers are options for Essex, which is being advised by Hymans Robertson.

Fund managers, which have until 22 December to apply, should manage at least £500m in infrastructure assets to be considered for the mandate.

An increased focus on infrastructure and housing investment by the UK government in its Autumn Statement was largely welcomed yesterday.

A £23bn National Productivity Investment Fund and investment in rail, telecoms and housing was announced by UK chancellor Philip Hammond, while a pipeline of PF2 projects is likely to be announced early next year covering economic and social infrastructure.

Merseyside’s local government pension scheme is looking to add a further 2 percentage points to its infrastructure allocation and join the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, London Pension Fund Authority and Lancashire Pension Fund in their GLIL pool.

Merseyside, which has a 5% allocation to infrastructure, said an increase in its allocation to infrastructure was “anticipated” as part a recent review of its asset allocation.

A final decision on the allocation is likely to come next year, IPE Real Estate understands.