Industriens Pension has emerged as the largest single backer of Hermes Investment Management鈥檚 acquisition of a 17% stake in UK utility Southern Water.
The Danish pension provider contributed DKK1.1bn (鈧�147m) to the deal, which came about after the Future Fund, Australia鈥檚 sovereign wealth fund, .
Kasper Struve, the provider鈥檚 director of private investments, confirmed the acquisition.
鈥淵es, it鈥檚 correct that we have invested roughly 拢120m (鈧�155m) in Southern Water as a client of existing shareholder Hermes,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t is a sizeable and important investment for us, and it is a sector we have followed for a number of years. Southern Water is a high-quality piece of UK infrastructure.
鈥淲e are happy to gain exposure and plan to hold the investment long term.鈥�
Struve declined to say how large a stake in Southern Industriens had acquired for its DKK1.1bn contribution, but it is thought the provider is Hermes鈥檚 single-largest backer.
The last full sale of Southern, in 2007, saw Royal Bank of Scotland offload the company for 拢4.2bn to a group led by JP Morgan.
As a result, Industriens has grown its infrastructure holdings to 10% of assets under management, including stakes in offshore wind, hospitals, solar power stations and container terminals.
Detailing the provider鈥檚 strategy, which saw it , Struve said: 鈥淒irect investments are something we do in the core space 鈥� in addition to Southern Water, we have so far invested in seven PPP projects and two offshore wind parks.鈥�
Its other UK exposure includes a co-investment in the UK鈥檚 Central Area Transmission System, a gas pipeline and a gas terminal in the North Sea maintained by Wood Group on behalf of Antin Infrastructure Partners. In 2015, Antin acquired a 62% stake for 拢302m.
It also includes an indirect stakes in the public/private partnership to build London鈥檚 Thames Tideway Tunnel, , and Angel Trains, in which .
