CIP holds EUR 375m first close on new green fuel fund

Danish fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) on Wednesday announced a EUR-375-million (USD 397m) first close for its new CI Advanced Bioenergy Fund I (CI ABF I), which will make equity investments in advanced bioenergy infrastructure in Europe and North America.

The new mid cap green fuel fund, targeting a size of EUR 1 billion, will allow institutional investors to participate in the production of advanced biofuels and biogas based on sustainable feedstock such as waste wood, agricultural biowaste and household and industrial biowaste. Final products will include renewable natural gas (RNG), liquified natural gas (bio-LNG) and second generation bioethanol.

According to Jakob Baruel Poulsen, managing partner in CIP, the new fund “taps into an attractive market opportunity underpinned by major themes such as the climate agenda, circular economy and energy independence.”

The first close commitments have been secured from some of CIP’s large existing investors -- two from Denmark, PensionDanmark and Industriens Pension, and two from Sweden, Andra AP-fonden and Fjarde AP-fonden. Vestas and CIP have also made commitments.

CIP said it has prepared for the fund an attractive portfolio of development-stage projects in Europe, involving various feedstocks, production technologies and offtake markets.

CI ABF I will engage with projects in advance of construction and apply a de-risking approach through project design, partner selection and contracting.

"Advanced biofuels will provide a strong impact for the green transition of the transportation sector and will furthermore support an even faster independence from Russian natural gas," commented Torben Möger Pedersen, CEO at PensionDanmark.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.058)

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