Our investment focus
Working closely with partners, we invest directly in high-quality infrastructure assets across the energy, transport, communications, and water & waste sectors within Europe and the United States. Our focus is on real assets that provide essential services, enable sustainable transformation, generate stable cash flows and provide partial inflation protection. Clients investing in Storebrand Infrastructure Fund will invest alongside Storebrand, a long-term anchor investor in infrastructure.
Enabling the transformation to a sustainable economy
Our infrastructure strategy focuses on enabling sustainability transformation. Storebrand, a pioneer in sustainable investing since 1995, believes that investing in companies well-positioned to deliver on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will deliver better risk-adjusted long-term returns for our clients.
Within infrastructure, this means that we focus on investments that are:
- central to societies' sustainability agendas
- consistent with Storebrand's Sustainable Investment Policy
- prefaced by a thorough ESG due diligence
![SDG Wheel_Transparent_WEB.png](/sam/de/asset-management/offerings/alternative-investments/infrastructure/_/image/bd8fe652-6ad4-4bfc-9e59-ec0834751cef:6621bafde219b8a03132754e95be5384b2c49d89/width-768/SDG%20Wheel_Transparent_WEB.png)
Megatrends driving infrastructure transformation
The infrastructure sector is at an inflection point, with several megatrends driving significant opportunities for investment in infrastructure assets. These drivers include:
- the race to meet sustainability objectives
- continued digitalisation
- demographic shifts
- secure sources of energy supply
- upgrades to existing assets
The megatrends driving infrastructure transformation have in many cases been shaped by official transformation agendas. For example, within Europe, the European Commission will mobilize at least €1 trillion in sustainable investments over the next decade through the European Green Deal Investment Plan. In the US, Congress recently passed President Biden's "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" demonstrating a similar commitment.
Storebrand's sector focus
Our sector focus revolves around
- offshore and onshore wind
- solar
- district heating
- power transmission
- battery storage
- electrified means of transport
- telecom
- water and waste management
Within these sectors, we take a flexible approach focusing on construction-ready or operational assets. A flexible approach to the life cycle stage widens the investment universe and is also an important tool when searching for investments where competition for deals is less intense.
However, we avoid investing in assets in the early development phase, where binary risks related to permits and basic commercial framework give the investment a risk profile which does not match the objective of Storebrand Infrastructure Fund.
Aligned interests
Within infrastructure, we offer a model where clients invest alongside entities of the Storebrand Group, which are long-term investors in this area. With our group companies as anchor investors, this helps to validate our focus on long-term commitments, and a conservative risk profile.
![Agility-Train-Eeast_1080x432.jpg](/sam/de/asset-management/offerings/alternative-investments/infrastructure/_/image/78ab86d0-e2c3-4ae7-b42a-7c34718a0741:c76ab292a1c1ab2585f892ec99b24c60afffd487/width-768/Agility-Train-Eeast_1080x432.jpg)
Case study - Agility Trains East
Storebrand Infrastructure Fund has, in partnership with AIP, invested EUR 450m in Agility Trains East in the UK.
Investment case
The asset consists of 65 electric train sets replacing diesel trains on the East Coast Main Line, a key transport route from London to Scotland.
The trains are leased to a train operator on a 27-year availability-based lease contract that is guaranteed by the UK Department for Transport. A full scope operations and maintenance (O&M) contract with Hitachi, including performance guarantees, is in place.
Sustainability impact
According to the UK Office of Rail and Road (ORR), only 38 percent of Britain’s railways are electrified. Investments in electrified rail fleet infrastructure is critical to meet UK Network Rail’s target of a net zero railway by 2050.
The ATE trains replaced diesel trains and are transporting more than 21m passengers every year, equivalent to over 13m car rides if passengers were to use their cars as an alternative mode of transportation.
Powered by an experienced team
We believe that relevant skills and a track record of success are essential criteria for success in infrastructure investment. To ensure this, we have chosen to engage via a strategic partnership model, where the deal sourcing, diligence process and day-to-day management of assets is conducted by our carefully selected investment partners in cooperation with our in-house team.
Storebrand Infrastructure Fund currently cooperates with two strategic partners with sizeable teams and broad experience from investments and asset management within infrastructure.
In addition to the core team actively engaged in conducting deals and post-transaction management, Storebrand has established an Advisory Board consisting of experienced managers across areas of asset management within the Storebrand Group
Storebrand Infrastructure Advisory Board
Dagfin Norum
Chief Investment Officer
Storebrand Asset Management
Trond Eriksen
Chief Investment Officer
Storebrand Life Insurance
Torstein Hagen
Head of Debt Investments
Storebrand Asset Management
Philip Ripman
Head of Solutions
Storebrand Asset Management
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