A further £100m has been invested by the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) into Gresham House’s Sustainable Infrastructure strategy to accelerate levelling up and address environmental challenges in the North West.
The strategy will help GMPF, which is the largest fund in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), gain greater exposure to innovative solutions and technologies including vertical farming, biodiversity net gain credits and low-carbon biofuel production in the area.
GMPF highlighted that directing investment towards these areas has the potential to deliver robust returns whilst also accelerating the levelling-up agenda.
Ged Cooney, GMPF’s chair, said: “We are committed to creating a positive social and environmental impact for communities in the North West. The scale of infrastructure investment required presents compelling opportunities to help develop the critical assets that will improve lives and deliver lasting local economic and environmental benefits.”
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Having worked in partnership since 2019, Gresham House and GMPF’s original North West Fund co-investment has already been successfully committed and helped to create 215 highly-skilled new jobs in the region, as well as supporting more than 1,650 new careers throughout the UK.
Peter Bachmann, Gresham House’s managing director of sustainable infrastructure, said: “The LGPS sector has a proud history of seeking out investment opportunities that deliver positive environmental and social impact without sacrificing the potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns.
This latest close for the Sustainable Infrastructure strategy increases its assets under management to more than £500m. Alongside GMPF, six other local authority pension funds back the strategy, which includes East Riding, Greater Gwent (Torfaen), Teesside, West Midlands and Worcestershire.
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