Nuveen Sets Up Global Infrastructure Investment Platform in Group Rejig

Nuveen has announced the creation of a dedicated global infrastructure investment platform as part of plans to reorganise the US investment manager into six distinct asset-class pillars.

The move brings multiple specialised teams under unified leadership to capitalise on unprecedented investor demand for infrastructure assets, according to Nuveen, the investment management division of US finance giant TIAA. The Chicago-based company, which looks after $1.3 trillion in assets globally, will establish separate arms for real estate, natural capital (farmland), private capital, fixed income and equities, in addition to the new infrastructure platform.

Having recently made a change at the top level of its global real estate leadership, Nuveen this week appointed Jessica Bailey to the newly created role of head of global infrastructure. Bailey previously served as president and CEO of Nuveen Green Capital, which is being folded into the new platform along with the infrastructure credit and infrastructure equity teams.

“By bringing together our specialised teams, we can better serve clients who are seeking to allocate capital to the infrastructure investments that are essential to the global economy,” Nuveen CEO Bill Huffman said in a release.

Digital Assets Eyed

Nuveen’s infrastructure platform seeks to make investments ranging from stabilised digital infrastructure assets to development-stage clean energy projects and differentiated securitised investment-grade opportunities.

Bailey co-founded Greenworks Lending in 2015 and guided the firm’s acquisition by Nuveen in 2021, when it was rebranded to Nuveen Green Capital, a provider of sustainable commercial real estate finance. The graduate of Notre Dame and Yale will report to Nuveen chief investment officer Saira Malik.

The group rejig comes six months after Nuveen announced the promotion of Chad Phillips to global head of the real estate division. The six-year veteran of the company had previously led Nuveen’s healthcare, office, retail and mixed-use strategies.

Phillips assumed top-level responsibility for Nuveen Real Estate’s $141 billion in assets under management through both equity and debt strategies across 22 countries. He replaced Chris McGibbon, who retired in June after 25 years with TIAA and Nuveen.

KKR Cashes Up

Mingtiandi reported this week that private equity giant KKR had received a $40 million commitment from the Employees Retirement System of Texas for a third Asia Pacific infrastructure fund said to be aiming to raise between $7 billion and $9 billion.

The vehicle is the follow-up to Asia Pacific Infrastructure Investors II, which last year reached a final closing of $6.4 billion — including a $50 million commitment from ERS in 2022 — and was billed by the US firm as the largest pan-regional infrastructure fund ever raised for APAC.

KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners, now owned by asset management titan BlackRock, pledged at last year’s Indo-Pacific Partnership for Prosperity to invest $25 billion to develop infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region.