A consortium of institutional investors from French-speaking Switzerland has made a “significant” commitment to the energy transition fund recently launched by Nordic investors PKA, Pensam and Storebrand.
The size of the commitment was not disclosed, but according to AIP Management, the alternatives joint venture owned by PKA and PenSam, the AIP Infrastructure II fund had reached its capital-raising limit of €4bn.
The Swiss consortium was brought together by InPact Partners, an alternative investment advisor based in Switzerland, and includes Retraites Populaires, Vaudoise Assurances, CPEG and CAP Prévoyance, with additional investors said to be joining in the first half of 2021.
“Our public institution as well as our partners wish to continue to invest in attractive and sustainable infrastructure assets, while optimising management costs,” said Jean-Christophe Van Tilborgh, head of the investments division at Retraites Populaires.
“In addition, our investments in the AIP fund are an extension of our responsible investment policy and the recently implemented climate strategy.”
Announcing the Swiss investor pool’s commitment to the fund, Retraites Populaires said preliminary meetings with AIP and the directors of the Danish pension funds PKA and PenSam had “made it possible to understand the [energy transition] fund’s strategy, to express the needs of the Swiss investors, and to be able to ensure maximum alignment of interest between all the partners”.
Kasper Hansen, managing partner of AIP Management, said: “The latest commitment to AIP from renowned Swiss investors is a further validation of the AIP platform, our team and the successful investment strategy executed over the past eight years.
“We are pleased to welcome the Swiss institutional consortium to the fund and look forward to continuing to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns to all of our investors.”
Retraites Populaires is investing for its own portfolio as well as on behalf of the four pension funds whose assets it manages.
