Exceptionally strong tailwinds underpin Aware Super’s green finance play

Aware Super today released details of its $US50 million co-investment alongside Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) into a speciality infrastructure finance company helping to fund the North American sustainability transition.

Galway Sustainable Capital (GSC), which offers scale and efficient capital deployment into emerging sustainability transition assets, has already made over $US309 million in commitments across 27 investments within its first two-and-a-half years of operations1.

It is estimated that to build a net zero economy, it will cost an average of $US3.5 trillion capital investment each year until 2050; that’s triple the scale-up from today’s level of global capital investment needed by 20302.

Aware Super’s Portfolio Manager – Private Equity, Alex Satchcroft, said GSC would further diversify Aware Super’s $A10.2 billion Private Equity portfolio, both from a geographic perspective and by broadening its exposure into financial services while also capturing returns from the energy transition.

“GSC has exceptionally strong tailwinds as many solutions for the global energy transition challenge require significant upfront capex, creating an opportunity for financing these solutions for years to come,” he said.

Mr Satchcroft said the co-investment alongside MAM also highlighted the fund’s focus on being an active co-investment partner and co-underwriter.

“We aim to deploy 50% of our capital into co-investments and the ability to partner with MAM is further proof of our growing market presence,” he said.

Head of Macquarie Asset Management Green Investments for the Americas William Demas said: “Aware Super shares our objective of meeting the demand for energy transition and sustainability solutions over the next decade.

“We look forward to working with Aware Super and Galway Sustainable Capital to support the development of projects and companies seeking to rapidly accelerate the transition to net zero.”

Galway Sustainable Capital CEO Jennifer von Bismark said: "Investing in a sustainable future is both critical and urgent.

“We share Aware Super’s commitment to responsible investing for people and the planet. Their infusion of funds and our alignment around goals will enable Galway to accelerate our mission of providing capital to advance a greater number of solutions to pressing environmental and social problems facing our world.”

Mr Satchcroft also highlighted the culture and expertise of the GSC management team, which has deep connections in market.

“We share Galway Sustainable Capital’s commitment to finding solutions to address the critical and urgent problems facing our planet and communities across the globe and are excited to work with Macquarie Asset Management Green Investments to further empower their delivery,” he said.

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