Macquarie's GIG financed $3 bln of green capital over past year

By Nina Chestney

LONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Macquarie-owned Green Investment Group (GIG) has invested more than 2.4 billion pounds ($3 billion) globally in low-carbon projects over the past year, it said in its second annual report on Thursday.

The GIG was bought by Australia's Macquarie Group in 2017 from the British government and invests in low-carbon energy and infrastructure projects.

Macquarie, which had assets under management of $376.6 billion as of March 31, 2019, says it is using the GIG as its primary vehicle for principal investment in green projects in Britain and Europe.

Over the period August 2018 to September 2019, the GIG invested and arranged more than 2.4 billion pounds of green capital and nearly 4 billion pounds over the past two years, it said.

The GIG now supports nearly half of Britain's total offshore wind capacity in operation or construction, it added.

Last month, Macquarie said it would develop a 20-gigawatt portfolio of new renewable energy projects through the GIG, many of which will be backed by corporate power purchase agreements.

"Our commitment to develop a pipeline of 20 GW over the next five years is a central part of our efforts to help deliver a rapid increase in the pace and scale of renewable energy developments coming forward, particularly in emerging markets," said Mark Dooley, global head of the GIG. ($1 = 0.8128 pounds) (Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)