AXA and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) have announced the first close of the Infrastructure Resilience Development Fund (IRDF).
“Following intensive collaboration with BlackRock/GIP, this innovative structure was designed to meet the investment criteria of the insurance sector and other institutional investors, aligning with the IDF’s core mission: to close natural catastrophe protection gaps and enhance resilience for vulnerable communities in emerging markets and developing economies,” AXA explained.
The first close raised $340 million, including a substantial commitment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the IDF members who contributed to the fund’s blueprint.
AXA said that the fund has also approved its first investment and has a pipeline of potential projects. Fundraising will reportedly continue into 2026, with plans to attract additional capital from insurers and other institutional investors
Jean-Baptiste Tricot, AXA Chief Investment Officer and Co-Chair of the IDF Infrastructure Task Force, commented, “This project is an important step in unlocking investment in infrastructure projects in emerging markets and developing economies with an attractive risk-return profile.
“Our view is that the resilience theme is highly complementary to infrastructure and will allow for a broad range of investments across different sectors.
“Having the ability to deploy capital supported by both private and public money through such blended funds is key for institutional investors, and the IRDF is specifically tailored to the needs of institutional insurers and pension funds.
“On behalf of the IDF’s Infrastructure Task Force, we are very thankful to BlackRock for transforming our initial idea into an investable opportunity, with significant growth potential.”
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