Piramal Enterprises (PEL) and APG Asset Management, the Dutch pension fund asset manager, today announced a strategic alliance for investing in rupee denominated mezzanine instruments issued by infrastructure companies in India with a target investment of USD 1 billion over the next 3 years.

PEL and APG have each initially committed USD 375 million for investments under this strategic alliance.

Ajay Piramal, chairman of Piramal Enterprises said, "We are extremely pleased to be partnering with an institution like APG who is a like-minded, focused and committed global investor. This is an opportune time to be creating an aligned pool of capital to target what we believe to be very compelling funding opportunities in the infrastructure sector in India. The alliance is consistent with PEL's long-term plan and vision of playing a contributing role towards investments that promote growth. This is the single largest investment of APG in the unlisted space in India till date and underlines the confidence reposed by institutional investors in Piramal Group's capabilities."

Shares of the company gained Rs 7.35, or 1.16%, to trade at Rs 641.95 at the BSE (9.34 a.m., Wednesday).