DUBLIN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Ireland's sovereign wealth fund's
domestic investments in 2020 were almost exclusively in
businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including 150
million euros ($180 million) to help stabilise IAG's
Irish airline Aer Lingus.
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) was established
in 2014 from the cash left in the country's pension reserve fund
following the financial crash to invest on a commercial basis in
supporting economic activity and employment in Ireland.
ISIF was mandated last May to invest up to 2 billion euros
directly into larger firms hit by the pandemic via equity, debt
and hybrid instruments and it said on Monday that 90% of the 430
million euros invested in Ireland in 2020 was for this purpose.
Most of the direct and indirect investments were so-called
"stabilisation investments", including Aer Lingus, a 40 million
euro commitment to the Dublin Airport Authority and 17 million
euros to privately-owned lender Finance Ireland.
ISIF is currently working on a pipeline of over 600 million
euros in potential investments, with over two-thirds of those
skewed towards "recovery investments", it added.
The total fund made investment returns of 6.2% in 2020, an
increase of over 500 million euros that was driven primarily by
its exposure to global funds committed to investing in Ireland.
That brought ISIF's total gains since inception in 2015 to
1.5 billion euros, an annual return of 3.1%.
($1 = 0.8313 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin. Editing by Mark Potter)