The Evergreen Infrastructure Fund by BlackRock has secured nearly $1 billion in client commitments from European founding partners.
The fund is a core, open-ended infrastructure equity fund that aims to invest in infrastructure businesses in Europe and North America targeting the energy transition and energy security. The fund will invest in core infrastructure businesses diversified across geographies and sectors.
Already, the fund has plans to acquire Lighthouse, a United States commercial and industrial solar and battery platform with an operating portfolio spanning six U.S. states. BlackRock also noted the fund will more broadly look for investments in transportation, digital infrastructure, and the circular economy.
“We are pleased to have completed Evergreen Infrastructure’s first close,” Anne Valentine Andrews, global head of infrastructure and real estate at BlackRock, said in a statement. “In today’s evolving energy landscape, companies are looking for capital that will partner with them as they adapt their businesses and navigate an accelerating long-term shift towards a lower-carbon economy. Evergreen’s forward-looking lens, partnership approach, and focus on core businesses and assets is designed to help investors (capitalize) on these dynamics, while supporting the sustainable growth of essential infrastructure.”
BlackRock’s Power
BlackRock is the largest asset management firm and manages $317 billion in liquid and illiquid alternative investments and commitments worldwide.
It has several other funds focused on climate change investments, including the recently launched Climate Transition-Oriented Private Debt Fund (CPD), which targets financing companies at various stages of their net-zero emissions transitions. The investment company also announced earlier this year it was working with the New Zealand government on a $1.2 billion climate infrastructure fund that would facilitate 100% renewable electricity in New Zealand.
The latest Evergreen Infrastructure Fund will work with portfolio companies to help implement decarbonization activities and actively track, assess, and report on progress over time. It will also track temperature alignment key performance indicators, with the portfolio management team aligning the fund with a 1.5-degree Celsius temperature rise scenario.
European Financial Institutions Join the Fund
Several institutional partners in Europe are founding members of the fund, including Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, and Inarcassa, a pension scheme for Italian engineers and architects. The fund will focus 50%-60% of the portfolio in Italy. The fund also has a pipeline of investment opportunities in Europe and North America.
“Our commitment to ESG has gone through many improvements in sustainable investments in recent years,” said Inarcassa President Giuseppe Santoro. “By choosing financial policies that secure the pension future of our members, we are not only seeking to (maximize) returns; by joining BlackRock’s Evergreen Infrastructure fund we are entering a network of institutional investors who are active in supporting the transformation of an evolving, low-carbon economy, while promoting the wellbeing of communities and the environment.”