Allianz Global Investors has become one of the first asset managers to hire a team and launch an investment strategy to provide debt financing to infrastructure projects, filling a gap left by the banks, which are focusing on building up their capital reserves.

The German insurer-owned asset manager has hired a team of five from Trifinium Advisors, a subsidiary of US insurance group MBIA that advises on investment in and monitoring of infrastructure debt finance. The team includes Deborah Zurkow, chief executive of Trifinium Advisors and MBIA's head of public finance in Emea.