The Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has invested €45 million (£38 million) of debt in French freight and railcar leasing company Streem Group, as part of a portfolio decarbonisation strategy.
Based in the UK, PIC is a specialist insurer of defined benefit pension funds, and has approximately £41 billion in assets under management.
The investment is part of the insurers commitment to invest in transportation assets which support less carbon intensive operations, PIC said.
Streem, until April this year known as Ermewa, has more than 46,000 railcars and 80,000 containers in its fleet globally.
In 2021 the freight firm was bought by a consortium made up of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and DWS Group.
Vladan Martinovic, senior debt origination manager at PIC commented on the investment: “Investing in these transportation assets will support the shift of freight traffic from road to rail, further reducing the production of carbon dioxide.”
The transaction was arranged by Société General and BNP. Latham & Watkins provided legal advice to PIC.
In April this year, PIC published its second TCFD report, which included details such as a commitment to decrease the firm’s investment carbon intensity by 50% by 2030.
Last month, Victoria Ruleva was named as investment stewardship manager at the PIC.
