BlackRock Real Assets has raised $1.67bn (€1.37bn) for its inaugural global infrastructure debt strategy.
The manager said the final fundraising for the Global Infrastructure Debt (GID) Fund, which includes $150m in co-investments, was backed by over 20 institutional investors.
The investors include global insurance companies, public and private pension funds, and family offices, from the US, Canada, Japan, and Korea, representing more than three times the initial fundraising target, BlackRock said.
GID is BlackRock’s first fund offering in the high-yield infrastructure debt market, complementing the firm’s existing capabilities across the capital structure in senior debt and equity.
Jeetu Balchandani, global head of infrastructure debt at BlackRock, said: “We are delighted with the success of our inaugural high yield fundraise. It is a testament to the team’s ability to deliver strong performance for our clients, leveraging our unique direct origination capability to meet the ever-growing desire for resilient infrastructure asset exposure.
“The team is working hard to close several attractive investment opportunities across key sectors, including digital infrastructure, which has emerged as a star of the pandemic. With an extensive forward investment pipeline, we believe we are poised to take advantage of opportunities across all major markets.”
Anne Valentine Andrews, global head of BlackRock Real Assets, said: “As one of the largest infrastructure debt platforms in the world, we have natural and direct access to multiple origination channels and the ability to invest at scale to influence deal terms and pricing for the benefit of our clients.
“The Global Infrastructure Debt Fund continues to provide investors with the agility and resiliency they seek, which has made this an especially important fundraise through the pandemic.”
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