PiP comments on infrastructure consultation

The Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) has responded to the National Infrastructure Commission’s consultation on the key requirements to enable greater infrastructure investment by UK pension funds.

PiP chief executive, Mike Weston, said that there is a strong appetite for infrastructure among UK pension funds and that the PiP has helped them make over £1 billion in commitments to UK infrastructure projects. He added that the National Infrastructure Commission could play a vital role in setting long-term priorities for infrastructure investment in the UK, structured in a way that is attractive to pension funds. Weston said: “A system which clearly identifies the UK’s infrastructure needs and creates confidence that those needs will be swiftly prioritised and acted upon, will find plenty of UK pension scheme capital available to support those projects structured to deliver long-term, low risk, inflation linked cash flows.”

The PiP is targeting investments of £2 billion in UK infrastructure and it recently gained FCA authorisation to act as an investment manager in its own right. It has also launched the PiP Multi Strategy Infrastructure Fund, which aims to raise a further £1 billion, in addition to the £1 billion in commitments it has already helped mobilise.

“The Commission has the potential to play a vital role in setting the long-term priorities for infrastructure investment in the UK, but its success will lie in whether it can encourage government and the market to provide a long-term pipeline of the right kind of infrastructure assets, structured in such a way that they are attractive to UK pension funds. For this to happen it’s critical that decisions on the UK’s long-term structural needs are separated from short-term political interference and there is confidence that implementation decisions will be taken within a defined period.”