This morning's Financial Times led in print with the news that the Qatari royal family wants to invest in renovating the HS2 high-speed rail line hubs, and carried a telling line for institutional investors.
"The papers show that in the first three months of this year, Mr Cameron organised three Downing Street meetings with external investors, including the Canada Pension Plan, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority."
Asset figures are not easily found for all of these, but the smallest, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, sits on C$234bn (£133bn), which gives you an idea of what it takes to get a seat at the table.
The government wants this country's pension funds investing in domestic infrastructure, but they are dwarfed by these investment giants. It is no surprise then that UK pension funds are looking overseas to get decent assets.
"The papers show that in the first three months of this year, Mr Cameron organised three Downing Street meetings with external investors, including the Canada Pension Plan, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority."
It is no surprise that there is a gap between political rhetoric and investment reality
Asset figures are not easily found for all of these, but the smallest, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, sits on C$234bn (£133bn), which gives you an idea of what it takes to get a seat at the table.
The government wants this country's pension funds investing in domestic infrastructure, but they are dwarfed by these investment giants. It is no surprise then that UK pension funds are looking overseas to get decent assets.
Yesterday's FTfm ran with a story on the Avon and Dorset local government funds looking overseas for infrastructure opportunities, in Europe and Asia.
We ran with a story on the Church of England Pensions Board – which has £1.5bn under its stewardship– thinking beyond Europe for its own infra opportunities.
It is no surprise that there is a gap between political rhetoric and the investment reality for UK pension funds, and the government – whether it is Boris Johnson waving a brick, or David Cameron having sovereign wealth funds over for tea – should be encouraging outside investment wherever they can.
But when a single Gulf state is talking about putting £10bn into infrastructure projects in this country, it is understandable that pension funds are looking elsewhere for assets that will provide the right balance of price and return.
For more on this subject, see my editorial in this week's edition of Pensions Expert.
