- Dutch pension fund manager, APG, has acquired a 16.8 per cent interest in Ausgrid on behalf of pension fund, ABP and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

The company operates the largest electricity grid on Australia's east coast, supplying more than four million Australians with electricity. The company is expected to play a critical role in the energy transition and contribute to further carbon emission reductions. The network uses intelligently connecting renewable energy and storage solutions to the existing network. In addition, it has growing activity in smart energy meters that enable households to properly monitor their energy consumption.

- The OECD is seeking expressions of interest for membership in its Long-term Investment Stakeholder Engagement Groups.

The OECD is creating stakeholder engagement groups to have structured and routine dialogues with each stakeholder group, and to call on their expertise to ensure the policy work being developed regarding long-term and infrastructure investing, responds to the real-world developments in the sector. It hopes to create two stakeholder groups: pension funds (including public pension reserve funds) and insurance companies. The stakeholder groups will function to collect input on specific outputs being developed, as well as gathering comments on the direction of future projects. The intention is to meet bi-annually over zoom to solicit comments and inputs on the various workstreams that are being developed. Those interested should contact amelie.schmidtott@oecd.org.


- Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which is responsible for the investments of the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) has acquired a 41 per cent interest in a life science property located at 50 and 60 Binney Street in the City of Cambridge in the Boston metropolitan area.

The investment is part of a new joint venture with an Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (Alexandria) subsidiary and MetLife Investment Management. The agreement was signed on 26 November 2021, and the transaction completed on 15 December 2021. NBIM paid USD 485.9m for its 41 per cent ownership interest, valuing the property at USD 1,185.2m. The asset is unencumbered by debt, and no financing will be involved in the transaction. The property was sold by an Alexandria subsidiary. MetLife Investment Management acquired a 25 per cent interest in the property and an Alexandria subsidiary retained a 34 per cent interest. A subsidiary of Alexandria will perform the asset management for the property on behalf of the joint venture. The property comprises 532,395 square feet of life science, office and retail space.

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