Morrell doubts pension impact

Paul Morrell told the Financial Times that while pension funds may be interested in making acquisitions on the secondary market, getting them involved directly in greenfield schemes is far less likely.

“I think it’s a pretty common view that there won’t be a barrel-load of funding coming in from pension funds for greenfield infrastructure,” he said. “It’s not their business and I don’t know anyone who thinks it is.”

The comments suggest government efforts to encourage greater investment in infrastructure from pension funds are struggling to take off.

However, it is understood that a growing number of institutional investors are looking to work directly with banks, who could take the riskier construction phase debt before refinancing to allow institutional investors to fund the operational phase of contracts.