The local authority pension partners of GLIL Infrastructure LLP have doubled their pledge to the infrastructure fund, bringing the total they have invested to more than £1.8bn.

GLIL is run by the pension funds of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire - collectively known as the Northern Pool - and Local Pensions Partnership (LPP), which manages the assets of Berkshire, Lancashire and London Pensions Fund Authority.

The fund targets core infrastructure projects, mainly in the UK, and has allocated nearly £900m to key investments covering greenfield sites, regulated utilities and transport upgrades.

It is structured as an Alternative Investment Fund, with the key decisions being made by its Investment Committee, comprising representatives of it’s largest investors, currently Northern Pool and LPP.

Ian Greenwood, chair of the Northern Pool, said GLIL ‘already leads the way’ in meeting Government ambitions for local authority pension funds investing in infrastructure projects.

‘Now, by increasing our scale in this way, we not only are better able to work alongside some of the most sophisticated infrastructure investors in the world, we also have greater access to the widest pool of available investments at the best possible price,’ said Mr Greenwood.

Michael O’Higgins, chair of Local Pensions Partnership, said the LPP was ‘delighted’ to increase its commitment to GLIL.

‘These increased partner pledges will help us to build on GLIL’s successful track record of collaborative partnership between like-minded institutions in the local government pensions sector who share a common interest in increasing exposure to UK infrastructure and delivering long-term liability matching returns,’ he said.

GLIL recently announced it would offer the benefits of its collaborative approach to a wider range of investment partners, including other local government pension scheme pools and funds.