Legal and General Capital (LGC) allocated £5 billion for alternative asset investment in 2022 with a focus on several areas including clean energy infrastructure.
The multinational financial and asset management giant confirmed it had continued its investment into the clean energy transition and supported start-ups and scale ups across several industries including heat, power and transportation.
This has helped support innovation within the clean energy sector and helped spearhead the installation of various clean technologies in the UK.
In maintaining LGC’s commitment in supporting the energy transition, it confirmed it had invested within a number of renewable technologies and firms. This includes battery energy storage developers, marine technologies, rooftop solar firms and installers of ground source heat pumps – a technology which is expected to see increased interest in 2023.
Sero Technologies, Rovco-Vaarst, Brill Power, Sunroof and Kensa Group are all cited as firms that saw capital support in 2022.
Kensa saw £8 million pumped into the company to help the firm to allow it to continue to scale up its ground source heat pump development in June 2022. The firm acquired a 36% share in ground source heat technology firm Kensa in 2020.
This investment built on a previous commitment made in 2021 which saw LGC invest in low carbon heat via providing debt finance to renewables funding scheme HeatRHIght.
For LGC, the investment marked a continued focus on green businesses that are able to provide scalable solutions to the climate crisis.
Brill Power closed a US$10.5 million (£8.75 million) Series A funding round led by LGC in July 2022. Following the investment round, Brill said it would target three specific areas of business growth. Brill stated it would double its headcount across its engineering and commercial teams while also expanding its product range, targeting the electric vehicle battery market in particular.
LGC also stated it had provided additional capital for UK solar power infrastructure assets and provided cornerstone capital for two completed fund raises by sustainable infrastructure manager NTR.
Further investment is expected to continue into 2023 with the financial giant indicating it would scale investment further into the clean energy space to capitalise on the ever growing market.
“2022 has been a landmark year for Legal & General Capital as we have made major commitments to deliver transformational schemes in all our alternative asset specialisms across both the UK and, for the first time, the USA,” said Laura Mason, CEO of Legal & General Capital.
“Much of this has come through strategic partnerships with like-minded investors, who are seeking stable, long-term returns, but also looking to drive positive social impact and limit the impacts of climate change.
“With an increasingly uncertain picture over the next 12 months, it’s essential that financial institutions continue to invest in the real economy, recycling pensions funds and savings into projects that help to create jobs, housing and vital infrastructure. Despite headwinds, our appetite to continue to invest globally, alongside other institutional partners, remains strong for 2023.”
LGC allocated some of its £5 billion invested in 2022 to several other alternative assets investment sectors including housing, SME finance, specialist commercial real estate and digital infrastructure.
