Legal & General (L&G) and NTR have secured commitments of over €600m for their fund for decarbonising Europe, including a recent investment from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF).

UK financial services group L&G and sustainable infrastructure investor and asset manager NTR have closed the L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund with private capital commitments of €607m to invest in clean power infrastructure assets.

A total of 13 institutional investors from Europe and Japan are participating in the fund, including sovereign wealth funds like ISIF as well as pension funds, insurers, banks, fund managers, endowments and foundations. ISIF has a mandate to invest on a commercial basis to support Irish economic activity and employment.

“This investment demonstrates ISIF’s capital deployment strategy of partnering with leading investors to stimulate economic activity in Ireland and help deliver on the country’s Net Zero ambitions," said Paul Saunders, senior investment director at ISIF.

 “ISIF has recently announced its ambition to commit an additional €1bn to climate-related investments, having exceeded its previous €1bn target two years ahead of schedule – which will bring total climate commitments to €2bn over the coming years.

“With its participation in this Fund, ISIF will continue to play a leading role in investing to address climate change and the energy transition. Having first invested with NTR in 2016, we look forward to continuing our partnership with L&G and NTR to support the development and build out of renewable energy projects in line with Ireland’s climate goals.”

Europe's green transition is expected to yield annual investments of more than €1tn over the next five years, and the fund plans to further expand its portfolio in Europe, deploying capital in new investments across its target sectors.

First launched in 2023, the fund has spent €385m to acquire 11 assets at different lifecycle stages of development, construction, and operation across technologies such as wind, solar, and energy storage.

The fund is already generating revenue from six of its 11 assets, and portfolio commitments date will generate 1,631GWh of clean energy, equivalent to powering over 295,000 homes and avoiding 187,440 tonnes of CO2.

The assets include a 55MW battery storage project in Finland and two pre-operational solar and battery storage projects in Ireland that will add circa 445 MW of clean energy capacity once they are built by NTR.

NTR has led the development, construction and operation of more than 3.6 GW of clean energy investments across Europe and North America, and it is responsible for sourcing assets for the fund to invest in.

"The successful final close of the Fund reflects an increasing acknowledgement that private markets investments can offer not only strong returns, but also avenues for institutional investors to address major social & environmental challenges—without compromising on their commercial objectives," said Bill Hughes, global head of private markets at L&G.

"By leveraging L&G’s investment expertise and NTR's sector knowledge, we are well-positioned to continue delivering long-term value for our investors and to further our commitment to supporting Europe's energy transition."

Rosheen McGuckian, CEO of NTR, added: “We are delighted to have already put almost 70% of the Fund to work across 1 GW of wind, solar and energy storage assets, generating attractive returns for our investors.

"By locating opportunities at the different stages of the asset lifecycle, we are creating a portfolio that is both yielding from an early stage in the Fund as well as seeking capital growth as newly built assets come onstream.”

"We are delighted to announce the final close of the L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund which recently was backed by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund along with 12 European and Asian investors. As we expand our portfolio across Europe we are dedicated to ensuring the clean power energy transition in our home market," she added.

As the fund manager, L&G provides distribution, stewardship, and investment capabilities to facilitate the vital role that institutional finance is playing in funding clean power generation.

The fund sits within L&G's private markets platform, which €68bn in assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, private credit, and venture capital. The companies have worked together since 2015.

Photo: (l-r) Frank O'Connor, Chief Executive NTMA;  Rosheen McGuckian, CEO of NTR; António Simões, Group Chief Executive Officer, L&G; and Nick Ashmore, Director, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. (Pic: Supplied)