Fin24 reports that Treasury has published tweaks to proposed legislation that will allow retirement funds to invest 45% of the money they manage in South African infrastructure.

Earlier this year, Treasury announced that Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act would be changed to allow retirement funds to invest in bridges, roads, cellphone towers and other infrastructure. Importantly, this would be optional in that retirement funds would not be obliged to invest in infrastructure. But the proposal will allow retirement funds investments of 45% in South African infrastructure, with an additional 10% in African infrastructure outside of SA - bringing the total maximum infrastructure exposure to 55%. Following comments from stakeholders, Treasury announced changes to the proposed regulations on Tuesday. These include changing the definition of "infrastructure", which has been revised to be "any asset class that entails physical assets constructed for the provision of social and economic utilities or benefit for the public". The 'social' aspect of the definition will accommodate impact investing by retirement funds. Impact investments are investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. A two-week public comment period has been announced for the new amendments.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Fin24

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