Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and NTR have raised €390m in capital and co-investment in the first close of the L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund.
Commitments came from a range of sources, including from European asset management, Japanese institutional investors and the NatWest Group Retirement Savings Plan, which utilised LGIM’s life company platform to gain exposure to the fund.
This is in addition to €50m of co-investment from Legal & General (L&G).
The Luxembourg-based fund invests in clean power infrastructure assets across wind, solar and energy storage, putting private capital to work to drive Europe’s decarbonisation and energy security agenda.
In a drive to boost energy independence and reduce emissions, governments across Europe are looking to accelerate the rollout of clean energy generation technologies and energy efficiency investments – all of which require significant investment and asset creation.
The fund has already started to deploy capital in support of this programme, announcing its first asset acquisitions in January 2023 – three Spanish pre-operational solar projects from global renewable energy developer BayWa.
Bill Hughes, Global Head of Real Assets at LGIM, said: “This marks LGIM’s first infrastructure equity raise and we’re delighted to announce first close of the Fund. This milestone is particularly pleasing given the recent private markets backdrop in Europe and Asia, and demonstrates the value of assets that combine stable and robust sources of income with clear sustainability credentials.
“Deploying private capital will be vital to deliver the pipeline of assets we need to reach net zero – this partnership aims to do just that, filling the funding gap and accelerating the construction and operation of clean power infrastructure.”