Saving grace

Since infrastructure is frequently described as a safe and reliable form of investment (and who are we to question that?), we think it unlikely that too many investors like to say a quiet prayer as they write out their checks to fund managers. But one organization may be more likely to do so than others.

It was recently revealed that the Church of England’s investment fund – which grew a very healthy 11 percent last year (praise be!) – has just made its first foray into infrastructure, with a $50 million allocation to a US energy manager. The fund added that it would continue to look at other opportunities to invest in the asset class.

We couldn’t help thinking that for the Church, which of course encourages financial contributions from its congregation every week, fundraising must be an peculiar sort of role reversal.

But perhaps an even more intriguing consideration is how the august institution would react to underperformance. Would it demonstrate the forgiveness with which it is associated, being only too happy to forgive those who – through their rash investment decisions – have sinned against them?

Or would it adopt a more punitive Old Testament-type stance: an IRR for an IRR and a tooth for a tooth?