Natixis, Swiss Life in €300m infra debt tie-up

Insurer Swiss Life has teamed up with French bank Natixis to invest €300 million in infrastructure debt.

Swiss Life is providing the €300 million, with Natixis identifying opportunities and co-investing alongside it. The partnership’s first deal will see them invest an undisclosed amount in an unnamed European offshore wind project. A spokeswoman for Swiss Life did not disclose further details on the investment. Swiss Life Asset Managers, a large European real estate investor, will help its insurer parent with credit analysis on the partnership’s deals.

“This partnership is another demonstration of institutional investors’ interest in infrastructure debt, just ahead of Solvency II European regulation which would occur in 2016,” the partners said in a statement.

For Natixis, the new pairing is also an opportunity to expand its European infrastructure debt financing capabilities. In January, Natixis partnered with French mutual insurance company MACIF Group to invest €250 million on its behalf in infrastructure debt.

The move follows similar initiatives by Natixis over the past two years. In February 2013, the company formalised a partnership with Ageas announced in August 2012 through which Natixis can transfer infrastructure debt transactions to the French insurer via a FCT. Ageas intends to build an infrastructure debt portfolio of €2 billion in the years to 2016.