Ireland Strategic Investment Fund ready to invest up to €1bn this year

Up to €1bn more is likely to be invested this year by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, the State-backed vehicle which has replaced the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

Speaking yesterday at the fund’s second annual market engagement event attended by more than 500 entrepreneurs, investors and advisers at Dublin’s Convention Centre, fund director Eugene O’Callaghan said that the programme has a strong and varied list of high quality investment opportunities.

To date the fund has invested around €1.5bn. That includes previous investments made by the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

It has €7.4bn to directly invest over the next three to five years, but with the inclusion of external co-investors coming on board, the total that could be invested could rise to €17bn.

“The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is building momentum, identifying commercial opportunities and investing in high-quality proposals. Our pipeline is strong and growing,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

He added that the Ntma-controlled fund expects to commit €500m to €1bn to additional investments this year. That would bring total investment commitments to between €2bn and €2.5bn.

“We currently have almost €1.5bn deployed on a commercial basis in Ireland and this will grow to more than €7bn over the next three-to-five years, as we make investments that meet our ‘double bottom-line’ criteria — delivering a commercial investment return and supporting economic activity and employment in Ireland,” Mr O’Callaghan added.

The fund has already invested in Irish Water; software firm Movidius; confectionery company Lily O’Brien’s, and life science investor Malin Corporation.

Mr O’Callaghan said that the fund is open to investing in the right project, with the right returns, offering the right economic impact for the State. To that end, he said that opportunities are being sized up across the SME sector, property and real estate, early-stage investments, food and agri-business, export-orientated firms and infrastructure.

Regarding the latter, management said the fund could invest “hundreds of millions” in the right infrastructure project if necessary.

According to Mr O’Callaghan, the fund has had initial engagement with around 300 potential new investment opportunities.

“We are greatly encouraged by the quality of many of the proposals that we have seen over the past year,” he said.

The fund also announced the membership of its investment committee yesterday, including former Google Ireland head John Herlihy; Enterprise Ireland head Julie Sinnamon and Nama chief, Brendan McDonagh

It will also report on the economic impact of its investments made to date by the end of June.