Swiss Life Asset Managers is targeting a first close of up to EUR 1.25bn this summer for its fourth flagship core and core-plus infrastructure equity fund, according to Christoph Manser, the Swiss manager’s head of infrastructure international.

The 2024 vintage, Swiss Life Funds Global Infrastructure Opportunities IV (GIO IV), which is targeting EUR 2.5bn, has a 15-year term – a shift from the 25-year lifespans of earlier vintages, a move that has been driven by investor feedback.

“We heard a lot – too many times, actually – the feedback ‘we can’t do 25-year funds,’” said Manser. “We had to adapt to the market.”

The Article 8 fund, managed by Gabriele Damiani, Swiss Life’s head of core and core plus infrastructure, invests in transportation, renewable energy, utilities and digital infrastructure in OECD countries, with a focus on Europe and North America.

Its sole investment to date – in Spanish toll road operator Itinere, agreed in December 2024, is expected to complete in the second half of 2025.

The predecessor fund, Swiss Life Funds (Lux) Global Infrastructure Opportunities III (GIO III), secured EUR 2.2bn in commitments in May 2022.

The Zurich-based group, which manages more than EUR 12bn in infrastructure equity across core, value-add and renewables strategies, has also raised some EUR 600m for its 2023 vintage value-add fund, Swiss Life Funds Global Infrastructure Opportunities Growth II (GIO Growth II), which has a EUR 1bn target and is around 70% deployed, the firm added.

Swiss Life has shortened the fund life from 12 years in GIO Growth I to 10, with the launch of GIO Growth II in May 2023. “It brings it into the middle of the fairway for value-add funds,” Manser said.

The fund – which is managed by Gianfranco Saladino, head of value-add infrastructure – is due to final close in the first half of next year.

The fund focuses on value-add assets aligned with megatrends such as digitalisation, decarbonisation, supply chain disruption, logistics and new mobility. It targets OECD countries globally, with a focus on Europe and North America.

Its investments include equity stakes in Telecom Infrastructure Partners, a lease aggregator of telecom sites across Europe and Latin America; RAD-x, a diagnostic imaging and social infrastructure platform in Germany and Switzerland; and Vergia, a Norwegian green energy platform.

The investors in both funds are European pension funds and insurance companies. Swiss Life Group insurance companies are significant anchor investors in both funds.

Swiss Life Asset Managers had CHF 272.3bn (EUR 288bn) of assets under management as of 31 December 2024, split between CHF 132bn in third-party and CHF 156bn in proprietary insurance assets.