Pension Insurance Corp buys UK solar bond

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) — Pension Insurance Corp., a London-

based insurer of pension funds, bought the U.K.’s first publicly

listed bond for solar power projects from developer Solar Power

Generation Ltd.

     The insurer invested 40 million pounds ($64 million) in a

bond that is linked to a pair of 5-megawatt photovoltaic plants

in Somerset, southwestern England, it said in an e-mailed

statement today. The bond matures in 2036, it said.

     The bond is the first to benefit from the U.K.’s feed-in

tariff system, which guarantees fixed premium rates for

electricity from solar installations. It will provide a good

match for the insurer’s pension liabilities thanks to the 24-

year inflation-linked cashflows for the two plants, according to

Pension Insurance.

     “Infrastructure investment will become increasing

important for the holders of long term capital, such as insurers

and pension funds, as they seek yield over and above that

available on gilts, in a low risk structure,” Mark Gull,

Pension Corp’s co-head of asset liability management, said in

the statement. “We will certainly look at other opportunities

as they arise.”