The Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) has secured GBP 125million of pension scheme investor commitments for its PiP multi-strategy fund.

The fund will invest directly in UK infrastructure to produce stable, long-term inflation adjusted yields required by pension schemes to meet long-term pension payment liabilities.

Pension schemes are set to benefit from transparent, low-cost fees that reflect the true cost of operation, according to PiP.

The fund has a minimum commitment of GBP 1m that allows schemes of any size, including the smallest, to invest and still share the same terms with all other investors.

There is also a co-investment programme that allows larger investors to achieve even further benefits of scale.

Mike Weston, PiP chief executive, said: "The founding investor pension schemes, which have supported PiP from its establishment, have now achieved their objective of providing pension schemes of all sizes with an efficient route to direct ownership of infrastructure assets to enable greater access to infrastructure investment."

Weston added that achieving the first close demonstrates investors believe PiP works and is delivering on its promise.

He said: "The founding investors have trusted the PiP team to use a portion of their scheme assets to source and take direct ownership of UK infrastructure assets on their behalf.

"With their support, we've already mobilised GBP 1 billion for investment into UK infrastructure.
PiP was established by pension schemes for pension schemes and with the first close of its multi-strategy infrastructure fund is now demonstrating its ability to buy and own infrastructure assets on their behalf.

"It is fantastic news for UK pension schemes of all sizes and their sponsoring employers," he added.

First published 28.04.2016

Lindsay.sharman@wilmingtonplc.com