Alternative investments firm QIC has formed a USD764 million (AUD1 billion) Asia-Pacific infrastructure partnership with the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).
The partnership represents CalPERS' first Asia-Pacific infrastructure commitment and adds another of the world's largest pension funds to QIC's infrastructure client base. Under the terms of the arrangement, QIC will source, create and manage a portfolio of Asia-Pacific infrastructure assets for the partnership.
Ross Israel, Head of QIC's Global Infrastructure says: "We are very pleased to have entered into this partnership with a pension fund of CalPERS' stature and for an investment mandate of this scale. CalPERS has been at the forefront of investment on many dimensions. This commitment to QIC and the Asia-Pacific infrastructure region is a validation of our infrastructure capabilities and the opportunity set to deploy capital across the core infrastructure sectors of transport, energy/utilities and PPPs.
"This milestone is the culmination of a dialogue over a number of years between QIC and CalPERS to explore a partnership approach to investing in infrastructure.
"This partnership, in combination with the launch earlier this year of the QIC Global Infrastructure Fund ("QGIF") and other separately managed account clients, increases the size, scope and level of control QIC can bring to future infrastructure opportunities for the benefit of all our clients."
"This is a great opportunity to expand our infrastructure portfolio and to enter the Asia-Pacific market," says Paul Mouchakkaa, CalPERS Senior Investment Officer for Real Assets, which includes the Infrastructure program. "QIC has a proven track record of success and is an excellent fit for our program. We look forward to working with them."