Norges Bank Investment Management has entered into an agreement with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to commit €900m to CIP’s latest renewable energy fund CI V.
The management mandate from the Ministry of Finance, which opened in 2019, allows for direct and indirect investments in unlisted renewable energy infrastructure.
To date, the investor has closed six direct investments within solar and onshore and offshore wind in Europe.
“This agreement will enable us to invest in renewable energy projects in the development stage,” said chief investment officer real assets at Norges Bank Investment Management Mie Caroline Holstad.
“The investment is a valuable addition to the portfolio we are currently building.
“It will provide further investment possibilities and exposure to other parts of the value chain, as well as the opportunity to continue building knowledge and experience with new markets and technologies.”
CIP and CI V will invest in renewable energy with a focus on offshore and onshore wind, solar farms, grid and distribution, and storage.
The investments will be equally split between three regions: North America, Western Europe, and developed countries in the Asia Pacific region.
“We have worked for a long time to map out the investment risks and non-financial risks and are pleased with our choice of CIP as a partner,” added Holstad.
“CIP is an experienced industrial partner with a good reputation. Our evaluations have shown that CIP has created value for investors in an open and responsible way.”
CIP Managing Partner Jakob Baruël Poulsen added: “I am immensely proud that Norges Bank Investment Management, one of the world’s largest investors, has chosen to enter a partnership with CIP and make their first indirect investment commitment to CIP’s Flagship Fund V.
“It is testament to the value of our industrial approach to greenfield energy investments.
“The commitment underlines that our ability to deliver attractive risk adjusted returns, while providing clean, affordable energy and creating local growth and jobs, is attractive to the world’s largest and most ambitious investors”.
CIP expects to conclude fund raising for CI V above the target fund size of €12bn, making CI V the world’s largest globally diversified greenfield renewables energy infrastructure fund.