EUROPE – Labour-market scheme PensionDanmark says it is buying a 49% stake in six wind farms in the UK for £153m (€185m) as part of its infrastructure strategy targeting inflation-linked returns.
Via the fund Copenhagen Infrastructure I, PensionDanmark is buying the stake through an acquisition from Italian firm Falck Renewables, the DKK150bn (€20.1bn) pension fund said.
Torben Möger Pedersen, chief executive of PensionDanmark, said: “Our investments in different types of infrastructure ensure our members an attractive and inflation-linked return for many years.”
The investment in the six UK wind farms was an important element in this strategy, he said, adding that Falck Renewables was a very strong partner in European wind.
The wind farms are located in Scotland and Wales and have a total capacity of 273 MW, supplying 160,000 households with power.
The deal is subject to certain conditions and approvals, which are expected to be fulfilled in the first quarter of 2014, PensionDanmark said.
Copenhagen Infrastructure I is managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
The firm was founded in October 2012 with PensionDanmark as seed investor putting DKK6bn into Copenhagen Infrastructure I – the partnership’s first fund.
Last month, PensionDanmark invested about $230m in the NGT natural gas pipeline in the Netherlands.
Back in August, it put around £128m via Copenhagen Infrastructure I in a new biomass power plant in the UK.
The pension fund said it now had direct and indirect infrastructure investments worth just over $1.8bn, and was expecting to invest a further $1.44bn in infrastructure over the next four years.
