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Macquarie and AustralianSuper among firms planning $50 billion infrastructure spend in UK

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Daniel NewellThe West Australian
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The projects could include offshore wind farms.
Camera IconThe projects could include offshore wind farms. Credit: MarkoGrothe/Pixabay (user MarkoGrothe)

Australian investment firms including Macquarie Group and AustralianSuper are planning to invest £28.5 billion pounds ($50b) in UK infrastructure projects in the coming years.

Projects include offshore wind farms, new homes, and urban regeneration works across the country, according to a statement issued by Downing Street on Wednesday after a UK-Australia investment meeting.

The investment help “create jobs and growth in every part of the country, and put the UK at the cutting edge of the green industrial revolution”, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the statement.

The two countries last year finalised the first post-Brexit trade deal that went beyond rolling over a previous relationship with a European Union trading partner. Among measures in the agreement was a guaranteed right for Australian businesses to bid for a variety of UK government contracts.

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The UK has long been a popular destination for Australian institutional investors. Australia’s pension funds have steadily increased their presence in the UK and Europe in recent years as they hunt assets outside their home market.

AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest pension, is more than doubling the size of its team in London by 2026 as it hunts more property, infrastructure and private equity deals outside Australia. The fund’s London office also houses its offshore dealing team responsible for global equities and currencies.

Commitments announced Wednesday include:

AustralianSuper plans £8b in investments including a Canada Water property development

Lendlease will be part of a consortium to invest £5.5b in London and Birmingham regeneration projects

Macquarie plans to back £12b of infrastructure projects including offshore wind farms and rural broadband networks

Worley will expand its UK operations, creating 1000 new jobs focused on energy transition projects

Bloomberg

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