Skip to main content

UK finance house to invest in renewable energy projects

Following new research from specialist finance house Aurium Capital Markets (Aurium), which reveals that between 2014 and 2015, the number of pension schemes with investments in infrastructure increased by 36 per cent, the company has raised £270 million (US$385.5 million), which includes over £100 million (USS$143 million) from institutional pension funds. It is particularly targeting the pensions sector as it says it is increasing its exposure in infrastructure. Its analysis found 136 pension schemes
February 19, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Following new research from specialist finance house Aurium Capital Markets (Aurium), which reveals that between 2014 and 2015, the number of pension schemes with investments in infrastructure increased by 36 per cent, the company has raised £270 million (US$385.5 million), which includes over £100 million (USS$143 million) from institutional pension funds.

It is particularly targeting the pensions sector as it says it is increasing its exposure in infrastructure.  Its analysis found 136 pension schemes with direct investment in infrastructure projects in 2014, which increased to 185 in 2015.  Those schemes identified as investing in infrastructure last year included Australian Government Future Fund; Canadian Forces Pension Plan, John Lewis Partnership; Pensionskasse Post; Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and The Pension Protection Fund.  
 
According to Aurium Capital Markets partner Steven Blase, the company is seeing more and more pension schemes investing in infrastructure, and it believes green energy projects here are very attractive for them.  Not only do they improve the ‘green’ impact of their portfolios, they can pay an attractive return and there is very little correlation with mainstream asset classes.

Aurium has already helped raise £200 million (US$286 million) to help build and acquire a portfolio of major biomass and Energy from Waste (EfW) plants in the UK, and is looking to raise further funds for more projects in this area.

Related Content

  • January 23, 2015
    Private investment in Latin American infrastructure on the rise
    Private investment in infrastructure projects has grown significantly over the past decade in Latin America's six largest economies, with the exception of Mexico and Argentina, according to a Standard & Poor's report. In Mexico the retraction in private investment is explained by poor planning and execution of projects on the part of the government. Meanwhile in Argentina, the dip is explained by government intervention, according to the report. Outside the two regional powerhouses, private sector par
  • February 13, 2018
    Trump unveils U.S. infrastructure investment
    U.S. president Donald Trump has announced that he wants Congress to approve $200bn (£144bn) bill, which he said will stimulate another $1.3tn (£9bn) in improvements as part of his plan to fix the country’s infrastructure. One intention of the proposal is to eliminate regulatory barriers and offer more flexibility to transportation projects that are currently required to seek Federal review and approval. $100bn (£72bn) of the proposed bill will create an Incentives Program to spur additional dedicated fund
  • January 10, 2013
    Need for simpler urban tolling solutions
    A common assumption, even amongst informed observers, is that there’s but a handful of urban charging schemes in operation around the world and scant prospect of that changing any time soon. Larger city-sized schemes such as Singapore, London and Stockholm come readily to mind but if we take a wider view and also consider urban access control and Low Emission Zones (LEZs) then the picture changes rather radically. There is a notable concentration of such schemes in Europe but worldwide the number is comfort
  • October 3, 2018
    Carrots are proving cost-effective in Netherlands
    There are lessons to be learned from congestion avoidance schemes in the Netherlands. David Crawford welcomes some new thinking in road pricing. Highway operators worldwide are being urged to learn from Dutch experience in using financial carrots rather than sticks to encourage drivers to avoid contributing to congestion. A Netherlands/UK group makes a convincing cost/benefit case in a new global survey of road pricing technologies, economics and acceptability. Representing the Rijkswaterstaat section of