Australia-based infrastructure veteran Geoff Coffey is offering wealthy investors and small funds an opportunity to invest in unlisted infrastructure assets through a new fund of funds called Infrastructure Partners Investment Fund (IPIF).

Geoff Coffey, ex- Pacific Hydro director and former Utilities Trust of Australia chairman, will chair the fund. Former Russell Investments and Telstra Super executive Nicole Connolly will be Executive Director of Investments.  Former Industry Superannuation Property Trust managing director and ME Bank director Arthur Apted will be Executive Director of Operations.

Geoff Coffey said that until now, smaller institutional investors, high net worth investors and SMSFs have largely been excluded from access to the unlisted infrastructure market. IPIF tries to improve the availability of the infrastructure asset class by aggregating selected funds with attractive, proven assets and offering access at low fees, with appropriate liquidity.

The new fund, which requires a minimum investment of A$100,000, does not yet target retail investors but aims to eventually.

The fund aims for a return equal to 350 basis points above the Australian government bond yield and charges fees equal to 0.65 % of the fund's total assets as well as a 0.1 % trustee fee.

The fund seeks to raise $30 million by July and $200 million over the next 12 months for infrastructure investment in Australia. Currently IPIF is only invested in unlisted funds Hastings Utilities Trust of Australia (UTA) and Palisade Diversified Investment fund (PDIF).

Australian unlisted infrastructure has shown a strong historical performance with a 10-year average return of 18.5 %.

Vasco Investment Managers will be the trustee of the fund.