Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 14 February 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also want to note that this matter has also been discussed with the Office of Public Works in recent days at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. Next is correspondence No. 1949B from Martin Whelan, head of public affairs at the National Treasury Management Agency, providing a note on the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which is part of the NTMA, and its investment in the Irish infrastructure fund, IIF, which, although it sounds similar, is a completely different organisation. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is part of the State under the NTMA. The second last paragraph of the letter states that one of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund's investments is in a privately managed Irish infrastructure fund. While the abbreviations are similar, they are distinct and different entities. The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is a State-owned fund and the IIF is a privately managed fund. There is a bit of confusion about the names out there. Investors in the privately managed IIF purchase their investment via unit holdings. This is common practice in fund-based investments. Consequently, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund does not own shares or have a shareholding in the privately managed IIF but does have a commercial interest via unit holdings. The letter further states that the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund holds 49.5% of the units in the privately managed IIF and has a commitment of €250 million to the privately managed fund. A chart is provided showing that there are 27 investors in the IIF who have control of 50.5%, while the State involvement is 49.5%. Am I reading it correctly?

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