States invest £5M in new infrastructure cell

Friday 10 March 2023

The States of Guernsey have committed an additional £5million into the Guernsey Investment Fund.

It comes as the Fund launches a long-mooted ‘infrastructure cell’, into which the £5million has gone.

The Guernsey Investment Fund (GIF) was launched in 2018 to grow States’ money through a series of investments. According to the Fund “GIF’s primary purpose is therefore to generate an economic return to investors, with the added benefit of creating employment opportunities locally and attracting investment and new businesses to the Bailiwick”.

The States of Guernsey was one of the seed investors and, at the time, committed “up to £25M”. That figure has risen with additional investments in a technology cell and a property cell. The property cell investment totalled £40M.

The fund was launched to “operate at arm’s length of government”. The original announcement included the context that it would be “managed by professionals with an independent three-person board appointed to have overall responsibility for investment decisions”.

It confirmed that “neither politicians nor civil servants will be involved in making investment decisions”.

Information about the Fund and how it operates remains limited. Investment funds are not listed on the stock exchange and are required to keep information about investors and investments confidential.

However, the States of Guernsey have revealed recently that the Fund co-invested in Condor’s recently announced new ferry. 

The President of P&R, Deputy Peter Ferbrache, announced his Committee’s intention to facilitate the purchase of a ferry last year. The Committee said it would not need States’ approval to spend an estimated £15 - 20million on it because it could be bought through a States’ investment fund, which is exactly what has happened.

“It is intended that the proposed investment in a ferry would be in partnership with Condor and would be made by way of an investment generating a market return, not through direct purchase by the States,” the Committee said at the time.

The exact cost of the new ferry is not known; neither is the split between the Fund and Condor in its purchase of a new ship. 

A States of Guernsey spokesperson said: “As stated investment decisions are made by the GIF, which is a commercial entity and a professionally managed fund run independently of all investors.”

More to come...

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