Swiss Life Asset Managers is expanding its real assets offering to include infrastructure debt financing under the stewardship of Stéphane Rainard.

Rainard, a former Ostrum Asset Management senior portfolio manager, who joined Swiss Life in June, will lead a new infrastructure debt team in Paris with a plan to invest €1.5bn in senior debt financing in loans and bonds over the next 3 years.

Swiss Life said the initial investors will be the group’s Swiss, French and German insurance companies with a future plan to open the infrastructure debt platform to third party clients.

The infrastructure debt team’s first investments under this new framework will be undertaken in 2020, the manager said, adding that investment activity will accelerate from 2021 onwards, with first projects located in Europe before entering other markets thereafter.

Swiss Life already has an infrastructure debt strategy which has already invested €700m in externally managed funds and funds run as joint ventures. It has more than €3bn in equity and quasi-equity investments.

Frédéric Bôl, CEO Swiss Life Asset Managers, France, said: “We are happy to establish this new department which will broaden our activities in the infrastructure asset class and it is perfectly in line with our environmental, social and governance policies.

“By widening our infrastructure debt financing expertise, we reinforce our long-term commitment to our institutional partners, the public and private decision-makers.”

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