Life insurance: Société Générale and Partners Group launch a private infrastructure fund
Partners Group, Société Générale Assurances and Société Générale Private Banking have launched the Partners Group Infrastructures Privées fund, offered exclusively in the life insurance contracts of the group's insurance subsidiary. The vehicle gives French savers access to an asset class that the press release describes as historically reserved for institutional investors.
An open ELTIF fund reserved for Société Générale Assurances contracts
The press release, published on 10 November 2026, presents the operation as a partnership between Partners Group and two Société Générale entities. Société Générale Private Banking offers the fund in France, while Société Générale Assurances makes it available exclusively in its life insurance contracts, in the form of a unit-linked option.
The vehicle is structured as an open-ended Fonds Professionnel Spécialisé (FPS) ELTIF (European Long-Term Investment Fund), with no predefined maturity. It is classified as Article 8 under the SFDR regulation, the category of products promoting environmental and social characteristics.
Steffen Meister, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Partners Group, sees in it “a new step in the democratisation of access to private markets for retail investors in France”.
More than fifteen infrastructure assets from the launch
From its launch, the unit-linked option is exposed to more than fifteen infrastructure assets, diversified geographically as well as by sector. The press release cites investments in data centres in the Nordic countries, energy services companies serving buildings in Europe, and electricity generation platforms in North America.
The partners tie the launch to several long-term trends: artificial intelligence, digitalisation of the economy, electrification of transport and the energy transition. According to a McKinsey & Company study (“The infrastructure moment”, 2025) cited in support, global infrastructure investment needs are estimated at more than 100,000 billion euros by 2040.
Esther Peiner, head of the Infrastructure business at Partners Group, states that in Europe, the group continues to identify opportunities “in digital infrastructure, particularly in flexible electricity generation solutions”, which she links to the development of artificial intelligence.
Redemptions that may be capped, deferred or suspended
Like any investment in unlisted assets, the fund presents in particular a risk of partial or total loss of capital and a liquidity risk. While the fund may provide for periodic redemption windows, these do not constitute a guarantee of liquidity: requests may be capped, deferred, partially executed or suspended.
The management of this liquidity must rely on the processes developed by Partners Group in managing open-ended funds for more than twenty-five years. The document specifies that the investment should be considered over a long-term horizon.
For Philippe Perret, Chief Executive Officer of Société Générale Assurances, the partnership makes it possible to “enrich the range of real asset offerings for our savers”. Mathieu Vedrenne, Head of Société Générale Private Banking, presents diversification as “an essential principle of long-term wealth building”.
