The Barmenia insurance group, based in Wuppertal, Germany, has engaged Golding Capital Partners (Golding) with the expansion and management of its global infrastructure portfolio. Golding is one of Europe’s leading independent asset managers for private equity, private debt, and infrastructure. Based in Munich, they currently have assets under management of around €8 billion, including over €3 billion in diversified infrastructure investments.
This mandate increases Barmenia’s infrastructure investments by €170 million. The portfolio will be built up over the next 36 months and will have a global mandate with broad geographic diversification. Initial investments were made in October. Barmenia has already been using Golding’s expertise in private equity for many years.
“In addition to our long-standing and close relationship the main reason for choosing Golding is the global access to primary, secondary, and co-investments that their broad infrastructure platform offers us,” says Carola Schroeder, member of the Barmenia Management Board.
“We are delighted to be extending our successful partnership with Barmenia into infrastructure investments. We greatly appreciate the confidence placed in our long-standing experience and excellent track record. By implementing an optimal investment strategy, our aim is to generate attractive returns and stable long-term income for Barmenia and its customers. We will invest the portfolio in a manner that ensures a balanced risk profile,” says Dr. Matthias Reicherter, Partner and CIO at Golding.
Hubertus Theile-Ochel, Managing Partner at Golding, adds: “Our collaboration with Barmenia underlines how important it is to understand the specific requirements of an insurance group and to be able to translate them into custom-made solutions. This is particularly true in the context of persistently low interest rates, volatile markets, and increasing regulatory pressure.”
In this complex market environment, infrastructure investments are a vital element in insurers’ portfolios because they have a low correlation with traditional asset classes, virtually no cyclical exposure, and can provide highly stable earnings. In addition, the rising demand for investments in infrastructure around the world ensures attractive long-term market conditions.
In the infrastructure asset class, Golding pursues a global investment strategy focused on investment in the core and core plus segments in Europe and North America, with some value-added investments for diversification. Since it started operating in infrastructure in 2011, Golding has successfully made around 50 primary, secondary, and co-investment commitments. Golding manages more than €3 billion infrastructure assets for institutional investors, including insurance companies, pension funds, foundations, family offices, savings banks, and cooperative banks. This capital is being invested from ten separate programs (including fund-of-funds, co-investment funds and managed accounts).
Both Barmenia and Golding are signatories of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).
