United Bankers launches a new fund investing in renewable energy
United Bankers Plc
PRESS RELEASE 3 August 2023 at 9:00 EEST
United Bankers launches a new fund investing in renewable energy
United Bankers is entering a new area in its fund offering by launching a fund that invests in renewable energy development projects and renewable energy power plants. The UB Renewable Energy Fund (AIF) will be open for subscriptions for the first time on 31 August 2023.
UB Renewable Energy’s primary investment targets are wind and solar power plants. The fund can also invest in infrastructure related to energy production, energy storage and the hydrogen industry. The fund is an Article 9 fund under SFDR and its assets are invested in sustainable investments that have a climate target. UB Renewable Energy can make investments throughout Europe, with a focus on Finland and other Nordic and Baltic countries. The fund’s alternative investment fund manager is UB Fund Management Company Ltd, which is a company in the United Bankers Group.
A key way of mitigating climate change is the electrification of societies at an accelerated pace. In the future, the vast majority of energy will come from a variety of renewable energy sources, and demand for renewable energy is projected to multiply in the coming years and decades. UB Renewable Energy is a fund whose potential relies heavily on the growing market created by the energy transition and the green transition. At the same time, the fund offers investors the opportunity to increase the proportion of sustainable investments in their portfolios. The fund is aimed at both private and institutional investors.
The UB Renewable Energy Fund has a unique competitive advantage, which is built on cooperation with other United Bankers funds. “Our fund creates significant synergies between the different funds. We carry out our own development projects mainly on land owned by United Bankers’ timberland funds. For example, this cooperation will help to speed up the acquisition of land needed for wind farms and solar plants, which will boost development activities and advance the appreciation in the value of the fund and the launch of electricity sales. We have also planned collaboration with United Bankers’ real estate funds. Solar power plants can be installed on the roofs of the properties owned by these funds, which improves energy efficiency and rentability of said properties,” says Staffan Söderholm, Portfolio Manager of the UB Renewable Energy Fund.
In total, United Bankers’ timberland funds own more than 160,000 hectares of forest in Finland and the Baltic countries. “We have already identified around twenty potential wind farm projects in the areas covered by our forest funds. The potential of renewable energy projects to be developed on these areas is over a thousand megawatts,” says Tapio Nuotio, Portfolio Manager of the fund.
The portfolio management and investment activities of the UB Renewable Energy Fund are taken care of by a highly experienced and professional team with a long background in project development, finance and the energy sector. The fund’s team consists of portfolio managers Staffan Söderholm, M.Sc. and Tapio Nuotio, LL.M., and of Heikki Kauppinen, LL.M., who is particularly involved in the fund’s project development in his role as Senior Advisor.
“United Bankers has focused its fund selection especially on alternative investments that allow investors to improve the diversification and risk/return ratio of their portfolios. The new UB Renewable Energy is a perfect fit for this fund family, as investments in renewable energy typically have a low correlation with equity and fixed income investments. I also believe that in the prevailing environment there is considerable interest in renewable energy and I see significant growth potential in the fund,” says John Ojanperä, CEO of UB Fund Management Company.
UB Renewable Energy is an excellent addition to United Bankers’ fund selection focusing on real asset investments, which includes real estate and forest funds and funds investing in the shares of real estate and infrastructure companies. The Group’s assets under management amounted to approximately EUR 4.4 billion at the end of 2022, 42 per cent of which was invested in real asset investments.
For further information, please contact:
John Ojanperä, CEO, UB Fund Management Company Ltd
Email: john.ojanpera@unitedbankers.fi
Tel.: +358 40 842 3472, +358 9 25 380 356
Staffan Söderholm, Portfolio Manager, UB Renewable Energy
Email: staffan.soderholm@unitedbankers.fi
Tel.: +358 40 922 6940
Tapio Nuotio, Portfolio Manager, UB Renewable Energy
Email: tapio.nuotio@unitedbankers.fi
Tel.: +358 400 476 548
Investor Relations: ir@unitedbankers.fi
United Bankers in brief:
United Bankers Plc is a Finnish expert on wealth management and investment markets, established in 1986. United Bankers Group’s business segments include wealth management and capital markets services. In asset management, the Group specialises in real asset investments. United Bankers Plc is majority-owned by its key personnel and the Group employs 148 employees (FTE) and 32 agents (31 December 2022). In 2022, the United Bankers Group’s revenue totalled EUR 48.6 million and its adjusted operating profit amounted to EUR 16.6 million. The Group’s assets under management amount to approximately EUR 4.4 billion (31 December 2022). United Bankers Plc’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. The Group companies are subject to the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority’s supervision. For further information on United Bankers Group, please visit www.unitedbankers.fi.
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