Ireland Strategic Investment Fund: NTMA Annual Report 2023 Extract (Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF))

Summary

• The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is a €14.6bn fund comprising the Discretionary Portfolio (€8.4bn) and the Directed Portfolio (€6.2bn).p.1
• ISIF earned an investment return of 4.3% in the year and an annualised return of 3.1% per annum from inception to end-2023.p.2
• A new €400m allocation for equity-based investments in new housing projects was announced, building on commitments that have supported 14,200 new homes.p.2
• A total of €18.3bn has been committed to investment in Ireland since ISIF's inception, including third-party co-investor commitments.p.8
• ISIF exceeded its co-investment target with €1.5m alongside every €1m committed by ISIF.p.8
• ISIF supported 42,454 jobs, with Gross Value Added of €2.3bn and turnover of €5.6bn.p.6
• The Directed Portfolio had a valuation of €6.2bn and a return of 4.8%.p.10

Key insights

1. ISIF's investment target is to exceed the five-year rolling cost of Government debt, which stood at 2.7% at end-2023.p.2
2. By end-2023 ISIF had committed €1.3bn to residential housing, with over €130m committed against the €500m city-specific programme.p.2
3. ISIF committed c. €270m under the scaling indigenous businesses theme during the year.p.5
4. Food and agriculture is Ireland's largest indigenous sector, with exports of €16.3bn to 175 countries employing 164,900 people.p.5
5. Dublin accounted for 56% of jobs and 60% of ISIF capital deployed, against 41% of the CSO regional split of GVA.p.7
6. ISIF closed a €21m commitment under its ambition to invest a minimum of €50m through private equity firms majority owned by women.p.9
7. Of the €20.7bn invested in AIB and Bank of Ireland, cash returns to date amount to €13.2bn and valuations at end-2023 were €4.1bn.p.10
8. ISIF increased the size of its revolving credit facility to Activate by €100m.p.3