Written answers
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Department of Finance
National Pensions Reserve Fund Administration
Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide details of the current value, including a breakdown by asset type, of the national pension reserve fund; and the amount of the remaining value of the fund has been committed to for various purposes. [54548/13]
Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The National Pensions Reserve Fund was valued at €15.6 billion at 30 September 2013. The directed portfolio (public policy investments in Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland made at the direction of the Minister for Finance) was valued at €9.0 billion and the discretionary portfolio (the investment of which remains the responsibility of the NPRF Commission) was valued at €6.6 billion. The balance of the directed portfolio at 30 September 2013 included the Preference Shareholding in Bank of Ireland which as recently announced has been disposed of. I have given instructions that the proceeds arising from the Bank of Ireland preference shares transaction should remain with the NPRF for the time being.
The asset allocation of the discretionary portfolio at 30 September 2013 is set out below:
| Asset Class | € m | % of Discretionary Portfolio |
|---|---|---|
| Large cap equity | 1,245 | 19.0 |
| Small cap equity | 247 | 3.8 |
| Emerging markets equity | 475 | 7.2 |
| Quoted Equity | 1,967 | 30.0 |
| Eurozone government bonds | 160 | 2.4 |
| Eurozone inflation linked bonds | 121 | 1.8 |
| Eurozone corporate bonds | 389 | 5.9 |
| Cash | 1,803 | 27.5 |
| Financial Assets | 2,473 | 37.7 |
| Private Equity | 716 | 10.9 |
| Property | 402 | 6.1 |
| Commodities | 305 | 4.7 |
| Infrastructure | 434 | 6.6 |
| Absolute return funds | 248 | 3.8 |
| Alternative Assets | 2,105 | 32.1 |
| Value of Equity Options | 8 | 0.1 |
| Total Discretionary Portfolio | 6,553 | 100 |
As recently announced, the Government has decided to reorient the NPRF into the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund , which will allow the resources of the NPRF to be deployed towards productive investment in the Irish economy.
In the light of this reorientation and the intention to maximise the impact of ISIF investments by attracting private sector co-investment, the NPRF Commission has made a number of commitments to investments in Ireland, including a substantial number of co-investments, while remaining within the twenty per cent limit on Irish exposure which the Commission has determined to be the appropriate level of exposure to investment in this country given the Fund’s current investment mandate under the NPRF legislation. A detailed table of these NPRF commitments to investment in Ireland as at 30 September 2013 is set out below:
| Investment | NPRF CommitmentCapital (€m) | 3rd Party Capital (€m) | Total project size | Multiple of NPRF Commitment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innovation Fund Ireland | 125 | 125 | 250 | 2x |
| Local Venture Capital Funds | 69 | 320 | 389 | 5.5x |
| Irish Corporate Bonds | 79 | - | 79 | 1.0x |
| Irish Forestry | 36 | 187 | 223 | 6.2x |
| Irish Infrastructure Fund | 250 | 66 | 316 | 1.3x |
| SME Equity Fund – Better Capital | 125 | 30 | 155 | 1.2x |
| SME Equity Fund – Cardinal Carlyle | 50 | 50 | 100 | 2.0x |
| SME Credit Fund – BlueBay | 198 | 252 | 450 | 2.3x |
| Irish Water | 250 | - | 250 | 1.0x |
| Total Committed | 1,182 | 1,030 | 2,212 | |
| Expected future commitments of NPRF | 81 | 368 | 449 | 5.5x |
| Total Commitments | 1,263 | 1,398 | 2,661 | 2.1x |
In addition to the above table the National Pensions Reserve Fund has provided a stand-by credit facility for the N11 and Schools Bundles 3 Public-Private Partnership projects.
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