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IFM poised for global private markets push with new shareholder
The industry superannuation fund-owned global private markets manager is set to launch three new private market strategies backed by the UK’s largest pension scheme.
IFM Investors and Nest have entered a binding agreement that will see the latter become the only non-Australian shareholder in IFM - joining its existing 16 Australian industry super fund owners.
Nest will take a 10 per cent ownership stake in IFM parent company Industry Super Holdings, and commit to significant ongoing investment, IFM said in a statement on Wednesday.
The UK’s largest pension scheme, which manages retirement savings of over £48 billion, is expected to support IFM’s growth and diversification strategy, which includes the launch of three new IFM private market strategies in infrastructure equity, infrastructure debt, and private equity over the next 12-18 months.
Nest will also provide “presumptive foundation support” on an ongoing basis for new IFM strategies over the years and decades to come.
“This alliance will support IFM’s further expansion into new investment opportunities and markets across the world, especially in the UK, and give Australian workers greater access to global markets that have the potential to deliver risk-adjusted returns for their retirement,” said IFM Investors chief executive, David Neal.
Nest’s ambition is to invest around £5 billion via IFM managed investments by 2030, across real assets and private markets as well as co-design new investment opportunities in infrastructure and private equity.
“By joining forces with IFM, one of the world’s leading infrastructure managers, we are taking a crucial step towards our goal of investing 30 per cent of our assets under management (AUM) into private markets by 2030,” said Mark Fawcett, CEO of Nest Invest.
“We’re excited to leverage IFM's expertise and scale to unlock more private market opportunities that can drive stronger returns for our members. With £10 billion of our AUM already invested in the UK, our goal is to grow this to £20 billion, and our partnership with IFM will be instrumental in helping us get there.”
IFM and the UK government earlier struck a deal targeting £10 billion pounds of investment by IFM in the UK by 2027.
IFM also launched a UK energy blueprint with Nest, and other UK pension and Australian super funds recommending targeted policy action to unlock pension capital to contribute to the new UK government delivering on its clean power by 2030 mission.
The Australian fund-owned global private markets manager expects the transaction with Nest to receive all the necessary approvals before the middle of 2025.
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