Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) is providing £268m (€312.6m) of financing to help fund the acquisition of the offshore transmission assets (OFTO) which connect the onshore electricity grid to the Moray East wind farm located in the Moray Firth off the coast of Scotland.

In February, International Public Partnerships (INPP) announced that Transmission Capital Partners, the consortium comprising INPP, Amber Infrastructure and Transmission Investment, had completed its acquisition of the Moray East OFTO.

LGIM’s private credit platform, which is making the investment on behalf of Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), said it is providing the funding to support the acquisition of the Moray East OFTO assets.

LGIM said the funding provided represented the only institutional investor alongside a consortium of banks and is the largest investor within the transaction.

John Carey, the head of Europe infrastructure debt at LGIM, said: “Network resilience is central to how we support the UK’s transition to a low carbon, digitally connected society. Transmission assets are therefore critical to facilitate the step-change necessary in meeting our net zero carbon ambitions.

“Although there is much to do, there is also huge opportunity; the sheer magnitude of capital requirement for the net zero transition represents a historic opportunity for private credit investors.”

Carey added that investments in transmission assets not only bring “significant environmental and social outcomes, but also boast robust and attractive investment characteristics”.

Jamie Hossain, investment director at Amber Infrastructure, said: “The long-term partnership with LGIM underscores the resilience and vision required to navigate complex infrastructural landscapes, ensuring sustainable growth and energy reliability in the UK for decades to come.”     

Andrew Kail, CEO of LGRI, said by investing pension fund capital into long-term projects such as the Moray East OFTO, LGRI can help the UK move closer towards the goal of becoming net zero, whilst also “delivering attractive returns to help back our pension promises”.

Kail added: “As the global leader in offshore wind energy production, the UK has demonstrated how the combination of private capital investment and long-term commitment can create real structural changes to the economy to help address our energy needs.

“Wind now accounts for nearly a third of the UK’s electricity generation mix, so projects like these are vital to the future growth and energy balance of the UK.”

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