The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and Legal & General (L&G) are investing £400m (€506.2m) in debt for a UK port.

The PPF and Legal & General Retirement have, respectively, invested £150m and £250m in senior debt for DP World’s London Gateway Port project over a 30-year loan term.

LGIM Real Assets is managing the investment.

L&G said two additional investors provided a further £180m of debt.

The facility will partly refinance an existing project finance loan and help to finance the port’s third berth. 

The port is the UK’s first in more than two decades. 

Sarah Wall, PPF portfolio manager, said the PPF “continues to build out its exposure to alternative hedging strategies”.

“These,” she added, “provide diversification benefits, as well as an attractive risk-adjusted return to benefit our members and levy payers.”

Barry Kenneth, CIO at the PPF, said: “Infrastructure investment is a key part of our investment approach.

“We want to invest in assets that give us long-term, stable cash flows to ensure we are able to meet our long-term obligations to our members.”

Legal & General is aiming to invest £15bn in UK infrastructure, direct investments and urban regeneration projects.