Three new investors have joined in with GLIL Infrastructure, which is the joint venture between the London and Manchester public pension funds, which has increased the total funds to £1.275 billion and more than doubled what it was previously.
The three new investors are the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, Merseyside Pension Fund and Lancashire County Pension Fund, who have teamed up with the two founding members who had originally provided funds of £500 million, so this has now significantly boosted the venture and officially confirmed the link-up.
The Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) and the Northern Powerhouse local government pension scheme pools have been brought together now due to this collaboration, after plans were abolished in the summer to combine the two across all asset classes.
The LPP have said in a statement, “The expansion allows GLIL Infrastructure access to a greater pool of financial commitments and investment expertise from its five contributing funds, cementing it as a significant and serious investor in the UK infrastructure market.”
According to reports, the Berkshire Pension Fund will also soon be joining the GLIL infrastructure and may become the third stakeholder in the LPP too, as well as the 12 pension funds in the £35 billion Border to Coast pool, so there could be more news shortly following in a development that is now starting to gather pace and funds alike.
The government’s asset-pooling project has now seen an increase to public pension funds’ investments in infrastructure, with the eight LGPS pools being specifically told to incorporate infrastructure investment into any future plans.
So with the three new investors confirmed for the GLIL infrastructure, could this be the trigger for even more investors to join in? We shall have to wait and see, but it would be no surprise if there is more news over the coming weeks regarding some new investors.
