Ireland’s SDSWF Forms €500 Million Joint Venture with KKR

Posted on 07/29/2015


Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), the former National Pensions Reserve Fund, has partnered with private equity firm KKR Capital to form a €500 million residential property joint venture. ISIF is a strategic development sovereign wealth fund (SDSWF). Part of the mandate of the fund is to boost job growth. This joint venture could help finance the construction of more homes, thus creating more jobs in Ireland.

ISIF will kick in €325 million toward the housing venture. KKR will provide the remaining amount of €175 million. This is ISIF’s largest investment to date. In addition, the joint venture is also establishing a non-bank lending platform to can finance Ireland residential sector, enhancing domestic lending capacity and moving risk off Irish banks.

Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund has €7.6 billion in assets.

Activate Capital

Activate Capital will be the manager in lending its services to Irish development projects. Leading Active Capital as its CEO is Robert Gallagher. Gallagher is a director at KKR heading Ireland. Dan O’Connor, the former chairman of Allied Irish Bank (AIB) Group, will chair the board of Activate Capital. Fergal McAleavey, ISIF’s head of private equity, commented to the press about a mismatch between housing supply and demand. ISIF sees the joint venture being capable of developing 11,000 new homes in Ireland.

Get News, People, and Transactions, Delivered to Your Inbox