The Baltic Energy and Infrastructure Fund (BEIF) is expected to accumulate at least 200 million under management within three years, Lords LB Asset Management said in a press release.
The central Bank of Lithuania on Wednesday allowed Lords LB Asset Management to distribute BEIF investment units to professional investors.
"As funding from European Union structural funds is decreasing, alternative sources of financing will be required by infrastructure and energy project developers. Meanwhile, long-term investors are interested in this type of projects. We have established the Baltic Energy and Infrastructure Fund with a view to combining assets and generating value across the different sectors," Tore Sandvold, chairman of the BEIF supervisory board, said in the press release.
According to Sandvold, a former director general of the Norwegian ministry of industry, oil and energy, BEIF's investment priorities will be in the transport and energy sectors, with special emphasis on renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, including public- private partnership projects.
Also sitting on the supervisory board will be Jaroslav Neverovic, a former Lithuanian energy minister, Nerijus Udrenas, a former presidential adviser on economic issues, and Par Nuder, a former Swedish finance ministers, and others.
Poland, Finland and Sweden are also identified as potential investment countries, but it is underlined that the fund would only invest in projects that are related to the Baltic states.
The planned upgrading of the Vilnius-Utena highway and of Vilnius' street lighting network, the development of Lithuania's international airports, Lietuvos Energija's Vilnius combined heat and power plant project, the Syderiai natural gas storage facility and investments in terminals at the port of Klaipeda are mentioned as projects fitting into the fund's strategy.
