NPRF commits €250m to fund for State assets

THE NATIONAL Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF) has committed a quarter of a billion euro to a new infrastructure investment fund which will invest in State assets that are up for sale, as well as new infrastructure products.

Irish Life Investment Managers, which set up the fund, is seeking up to €1 billion from institutional investors.

It has already received investment commitments of €50 million in addition to the €250 million commitment secured from the NPRF.

AMP Capital will act as investment manager to the new fund, with full responsibility for investment decisions.

Irish Life Investment Managers chief executive Gerry Keenan said the company expected considerable investment opportunities to emerge in coming years as Ireland’s infrastructure assets, which have traditionally been closed off to outside investment, open up for private investment.

The NPRF was set up in 2001 to manage Ireland’s public sector pensions.

According to its 2011 third-quarter update, published this week, the value of the NPRF at the end of September was €14.9 billion.

This is divided into a “directed portfolio” which refers to the portion of the fund invested in Bank of Ireland and AIB, currently worth €9.6 billion, and the “discretionary portfolio” which it invests on behalf of the State, and is currently worth €5.3 billion.

The NPRF lost 36.5 per cent on its investment in AIB and Bank of Ireland in the third quarter, while the value of its discretionary fund advanced by 0.2 per cent.

In September the Government announced plans to create a “strategic investment fund” which would use funding from the NPRF to invest in the Irish economy, using matching commercial investment secured from private investors.