Brunel Pension Partnership publishes on its website:
“Greencoat Capital announces the launch of a new closed-ended private markets fund, Greencoat Renewable Income LP (GRI), and is delighted to have already secured £277m of commitments from leading UK pension investors Brunel and SAUL.
GRI offers institutional investors the opportunity to invest, through one vehicle, in a diversified portfolio of UK renewable infrastructure assets delivering predictable sterling cashflows with significant inflation protection. Investments are expected to focus on solar, wind and bioenergy, with selected other green infrastructure opportunities such as renewable heat.
The fund has allocated c.£130m of capital to three investments to date: a share of the Templeborough Biomass Power Plant, a 40MW operating waste wood biomass plant in Rotherham; a share of two of the largest low carbon greenhouses in the UK – currently in construction; and a commitment to Greencoat Solar II LP, the UK’s largest private markets solar fund which itself now has investor commitments of over £1bn.
Greencoat Capital is one of the largest specialist investment managers in Europe, with around £5bn under management across a range of private and publicly listed funds and a track-record of delivering predictable returns through strategies in wind, solar, and bioenergy. GRI will make investment allocations which will be managed by Greencoat’s highly experienced and sector specialised teams, providing cost-efficient access to the depth and breadth of Greencoat’s expertise.
Tatiana Zervos, Portfolio Manager for GRI at Greencoat Capital, said: “We are delighted with the positive market response to our new fund. It gives institutional investors access to a diversified portfolio of renewable infrastructure, through one vehicle, benefitting from a “whole of Greencoat effort” in an efficient and cost-efficient solution. Greencoat Renewable Income caters to institutional investors of all sizes seeking access to the predictable returns provided by renewable infrastructure in a more diversified strategy.”
Gillian de Candole, Investment Principal at Brunel Pension Partnership, said: “Greencoat has a strong reputation for investing in and managing renewable energy assets. This fund is a good fit both with our clients’ return expectations from secured income investments and Brunel’s partnership-wide commitment to act on climate change including extending the range and quality of climate-aware products available to our clients. We look forward to an open and productive relationship with Greencoat for many years to come.”
Kevin Wade, CIO at SAUL Trustee Company, the Trustee of the Superannuation Arrangements of the University of London (SAUL), said: “This investment will provide SAUL with a diversified, renewable infrastructure portfolio generating predictable cashflows to help meet our inflation-linked pension liabilities. We know that environmental issues are a key concern for our members and employers so we welcome the opportunity to invest capital in areas of the market that will help the UK to reduce its carbon emissions, importantly, without the need to forgo return. We chose to partner with Greencoat in this long-term investment given both their specialist expertise across the range of renewable infrastructure assets and the diversified approach. We were advised on the selection exercise by our Strategic Investment Adviser, Redington.”