Nest, the UK’s largest pension scheme by membership, has committed £200 million ($269.3 million) to a next-generation climate technology strategy through a partnership with global infrastructure specialist IFM Investors (IFM).
The infrastructure credit mandate is designed to target growth-stage industrial and infrastructure-oriented businesses requiring scale-up capital, particularly across developed markets and the UK. The strategy focuses on venture-backed companies utilising proven technologies that have progressed beyond early-stage risk but remain underserved by traditional infrastructure debt providers.
The investment aligns with Nest’s broader corporate objective to increase its allocation to private markets, aiming to expand its current holdings from approximately 18 per cent to 30 per cent in the coming years.
The mandate represents the latest operational development since Nest became the first international co-owner of IFM last year, alongside 15 Australian superannuation funds. Nest has previously stated its intention to invest a total of £5 billion through IFM by 2030.
Rachel Farrell, Director of Public and Private Markets at Nest Invest, noted that the strategy offers an opportunity to secure returns for members by investing in global and domestic climate technologies. She added that the partnership with IFM is intended to seed new investment strategies and facilitate wider capital flows from other institutional investors to support real-world decarbonisation solutions.
The globally focused debt strategy will back asset-backed debt across several core economic sectors, including power and energy, sustainable transportation, the digital circular economy, and industrial innovation.
IFM will leverage its established global infrastructure debt platform to manage the mandate, aiming to provide flexible growth capital to businesses involved in transforming critical infrastructure systems.
Rich Randall, Global Head of Debt Investments at IFM, stated that the mandate expands IFM’s financing focus to innovative infrastructure and industrial technologies that support economic resilience, energy security, and supply chain strength. He emphasised that as a pension fund-owned institution, IFM’s priority is to deliver long-term outcomes for retirement savings through durable investments that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns.
