HSBC launches €500m environmental infrastructure fund

The infrastructure and real estate investment unit of HSBC has raised €117 million towards a new environment and infrastructure fund.

The fund, which is targeting €500 million, will invest in renewable energy, water treatment and waste management, primarily in Europe and the US.

“The prospect for the market is slowly improving and because this is a small fund it may well reach its target. It is being looked at by a number of very large investors,” a source close to the deal said.

The fund, which came to market last summer, has already committed to its first investment, a 49 percent stake in Partnerships for Renewables—a venture set up to develop and build 500 megawatts of renewable energy assets on public sector land in the UK.

HSBC plans to raise another infrastructure-focused fund soon although the timing has not been decided, sources say.