GSIS invests $300M in infrastructure fund

THE GOVERNMENT Service Insurance System (GSIS) invested $300 million in the New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) Emerging Markets Fund.

The investment will help fund global infrastructure projects covering transport, energy and digitalization, the GSIS said in a statement on Monday.

“This partnership is in line with our continued effort to further diversify our assets and generate higher returns for the benefit of our more than two million members and pensioners,” GSIS President Jose Arnulfo “Wick” A. Veloso said.

Mr. Veloso signed the agreement on April 12 with James L. Amine, a GIP partner, the GSIS said.

Founded in 2006, GIP manages $87-billion worth of assets, which it invests in power and utilities, natural resources infrastructure, air transport infrastructure, seaports, freight railroad, water distribution and treatment, and waste management, it said.

“The firm works in partnership with public sector co-investors and stakeholders to deliver improvements in infrastructure,” it added.

GIP is led by 27 partners, including GIP Emerging Markets Chairman and former World president of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim, the GSIS said.

It also includes GIP Emerging Markets Managing Partner Jin-Yong Cai, who was also the chief executive officer of the International Finance Corp. of the World Bank Group.

Think tank InfraWatch PH public investment analyst and convenor Terry L. Ridon said the GSIS should instead invest in local programs.

“It would have been preferable if the GSIS invests in flagship infrastructure projects within the President’s ‘Build Better More’ program, or fund indicative public-private partnerships,” Mr. Ridon said in a Viber message.

“Investing into the local infrastructure sector has more positive outcomes for the country and GSIS members, which are beyond the financial yield metrics of global investment funds,” he added. — A.M.C. Sy