GPIF Starts Infrastructure Investment Through A Co-investment Agreement with OMERS and DBJ

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) announced on February 28 that it "entered into a co‐investment agreement with Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and Canada's Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) in order to jointly invest in infrastructure assets".

In the announcement, GPIF said "Such investments will be made throughout approximately 5‐year investment period the aggregate investment outstanding may reach up to 2.7 billion US dollar (280 billion Japanese yen) which accounts for 0.2% of the asset under management (129 trillion Japanese yen as of the end of December, 2013)".

GPIF also said "Infrastructures are classified as “international fixed incomes” in the policy asset mix and managed as a part of GPIF’s in‐house investment."

GPIF's official announcement can be found at:
(English) http://www.gpif.go.jp/en/fund/pdf/gpif_launches_infrastructure_investment_program.pdf
(Japanese) http://www.gpif.go.jp/topics/2013/pdf/gpif_launches_infrastructure_investment_program_ja.pdf

It appears the investment from DBJ will be USD 100 million over the same period according to the DBJ press release.

(English) http://www.dbj.jp/en/topics/dbj_news/2013/html/0000015061.html
(Japanese) http://www.dbj.jp/ja/topics/dbj_news/2013/html/0000015060.html

According to a Nikkei report,  "The GPIF will earmark only 0.2% of its 130 trillion yen ($1.26 trillion) in assets under management for infrastructure investment, but suggested that the figure may increase. The fund will consider other partnerships as well as other investment areas, such as private equity and real estate, according to a senior official."