UK pension funds have made new and follow-up investments in Alpha Real Capital’s Wind Renewables Income Fund, which invests mainly in onshore feed in tariff wind assets in the country.

The fund secured an £80m (€93m) follow-up subscription from existing investors including the Towers Watson Secure Income Fund and Yorkshire & Clydesdale Bank Pension Scheme, with new investment coming from the pension scheme for specialist chemicals firm Croda.

Alpha said Wind Renewables Income Fund invested mainly in sub-5 megawatt onshore feed in tariff wind assets in the UK, “providing UK pension fund investors with secure inflation-linked income (circa 80%) and with a current duration in excess of 20 years”.

The fund has a fleet of 40 turbines, which generated over 50GWh of clean energy in the 12 months to December 2020, exceeding its power generation target by 4% and EBITDA by over 7%.

Once fully invested, the fund will have deployed £180m.

Will Morgan, head of renewables at Alpha Real Capital, said: “Following successful deployment of £100m across 14 transactions and 40 operating turbines since initial launch in June 2018, we are delighted to have retained these substantial commitments that will allow WRIF to capitalise on our immediate pipeline of exclusive opportunities within the UK’s addressable market of circa £2bn.”

Eight-member scheme signs £5m buy-out …

The pension scheme of Sydney Packett & Sons Ltd, a 100-year-old family-owned insurance business, has completed a £5m buy-out deal with Aviva, securing the benefits for all eight members.

K3 Advisory, Western Pension Solutions, Shoosmiths, and Isio were the advisors involved.

Thomas Crawshaw, senior actuarial consultant and transaction lead at K3 Advisory, said: “What this deal shows is that no scheme is too small. If the scheme is well prepared, and an efficient process such as ours is run, then small schemes continue to be very attractive to the insurance market.”

… and Civil Aviation Authority scheme agrees £110m buy-in

The CAA section of the Civil Aviation Authority Pension Scheme (CAAPS) has insured £110m worth of pension liabilities via a buy-in deal with Legal & General Assurance Society.

The scheme had already completed de-risking transactions totalling £1.8bn. It has a long-standing relationship with Legal & General, as its asset manager has managed various CAAPS assets for more than 30 years.

Joanna Matthews, chair of the trustee, said: “This transaction takes us a step closer to achieving our long-term aim of de-risking the CAA Section of the scheme.

“We are delighted to expand our relationship with the Legal & General Group, who demonstrated flexibility to meet our needs along with competitive pricing.”

The trustee was advised on the transaction by Aon and legal advice was provided by Reed Smith. Legal advice was provided to Legal & General by CMS.

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