UK Green Investments
Government announces landmark green investment
The Government’s UK Green Investments team (UKGI) is to make its landmark first investment in green infrastructure.
A total of £80 million has been committed to two specialist fund managers who will make and manage investments in the small scale waste infrastructure sector on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
An initial fund of £50 million will be managed by Foresight Group and an initial fund of £30 million managed by Greensphere Capital.
All BIS investments made by the fund managers will be match-funded, leveraging in at least £80 million more to the projects. The investment decisions will be overseen by a new Investment Committee.
The Government is investing directly, on fully commercial terms, ahead of obtaining state aid approval for the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB).
The fund managers will be responsible for generating and managing investments in areas such as waste recycling and reprocessing facilities, pre-treatment projects and energy-from-waste projects.
The appointments have been made following the launch of a competition in December 2011 seeking experienced fund managers to manage Government investments in waste infrastructure projects. The Government will also make a further £100 million available for investment in the non-domestic energy efficiency sector. A competition was launched last month for fund managers interested in working with BIS on this. The outcome of the competition will be announced in the summer.
