Two new MDs join UK green bank

UK-based Green Investment Bank (GIB) has filled out its senior team with the addition of Christine Brockwell and Gregor Paterson-Jones, who will be serving as managing directors of offshore wind and non-domestic energy efficiency (NDEE), respectively, the bank announced Tuesday.

Although the bank identifies both areas as core sectors, offshore wind in particular is expected to have the largest share of the bank’s initial £3 billion ($4.5 billion; €3.5 billion) capital. Brockwell’s arrival also coincides with GIB’s expansion of its offshore wind investment strategy which will include investing in the construction stage of offshore projects as well as investing in secondary markets.

Brockwell joins GIB’s London office from financial services advisory firm Global Capital Finance. Based in Germany, she served as director and was responsible for the firm’s European renewable energy transactions and global equity syndication.

Paterson-Jones joins GIB’s Edinburgh headquarters from asset management and advisory firm Sterling Waterford Securities (SWS), in Cape Town, South Africa. As chief executive of SWS, Paterson-Jones initiated the listed trading market for carbon credits on the JSE Securities Exchange and was involved in the creation of new financing structures in the formative stages of the biofuels and voluntary offset markets. He will be joined by a newly-appointed director, Iain Watson, in his new role at GIB.

“Today’s announcement shows that we can attract the very best global talent, and I look forward to working with our new MDs as they lead the delivery of our investment strategy in two of our priority investment sectors,” GIB chief executive Shaun Kingsbury said in a statement.
The bank’s other priority sectors include waste processing and recycling and energy from waste generation.

Funded by the UK government, GIB is a for-profit bank, whose mission is to accelerate the country’s transition to a greener economy and to operate independently from the government. During its first six months of operation – it was launched in November 2012 – the bank has focused on the secondary market for operating assets, investing in existing offshore wind projects to allow capital to be recycled into new projects.