The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has committed $5 billion to what could become the world’s largest infrastructure fund. OMERS will invest alongside Japan’s Pension Fund Association and a consortium led by Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan’s largest trading house and other interested pension funds around the world. The goal is to raise $20 billion.
Dubbed Global Strategic Investment Alliance (GSIA), the fund will invest in assets such as railways, ports and gas pipelines in North America and Europe with values of over $2 billion each.
The initiative is led by OMERS, which administers the pensions of 420,000 public sector employees in Ontario such as police officers, fire fighters and teachers, and has over $55.1 billion in net assets under management.
“Based upon the feedback in the market, we anticipate welcoming a number of other forward-thinking pension plans and other long-term institutional investors from around the world into the GSIA over the next 12 to 18 months,” said Jacques Demers, strategic investments chief executive for OMERS, said in a statement.
OMERS has committed $5 billion to the fund, Japan’s Pension Fund Association has committed $1.25 billion, and Mitsubishi’s consortium, which includes Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd and Japan Bank for International Cooperation, has also committed $1.25 billion.