UK - Several major UK pension schemes holding shares in Impax, the only pure play environmental investment vehicle in the FTSE All Share index, haveinvested in two of the company's funds bringing the total of funds under its management up to over £400m(€578m).

Some £66m of subscriptions for C shares in the Impax Environmental Markets' Investment Trust were made and another £19m was raised for the group's Renewable Infrastructure Fund.

Among Impex' investors are the £21.7bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (110,000 members), the £9.8bn British Airways Pension Fund (over 45,000 members), the South Yorkshire Pension Authority and the London Pensions Fund Authority.

"Investor appetite for exposure to the alternative energy, water and waste sectors is building strongly as they review the evidence of the fast growth in earnings that these sectors offer", Keith Falconer, Impax Group's chairman said.

This trend is underlined by the fact that last summer Impax had only £100m under management and had quadrupled since then.

Over the last three years Impax Environmental Markets plc has consistently outperformed leading stock market indices such as the MSCI World Index. The London-listed trust invests in global water, waste and new energy markets.

Last month the group's limited partnership Impax New Energy Investors announced its first investment: £13.5 in Airtricity Holdings Limited (AHL), a Dublin-based renewable energy company.