Ambitious scheme launched last year fails to attract sufficient critical mass in volatile market

By Mark Leftly

ING, the Dutch insurance conglomerate, has pulled its 1bn euro (860m pounds) European Infrastructure Fund (EIF) having failed to attract enough investors.

The fund was launched last year, when it was seeded with two existing ING investments. These were a 29 per cent stake in Welcome Break, the motorway services company, and a 24.9 per cent share of a wind farm project in Holland.

Richard Games, the head of the fund, said at the time that infrastructure assets were a strong investment in the current volatile market, as they provide stable returns.

However, in a statement this weekend, ING said: "Due to a combination of market conditions, concerns over achievable critical mass and our strategy for taking the business forward, we have, sadly, decided to discontinue with the marketing of the ING EIF."

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Posted by rjorr at August 17, 2009 2:59 PM