SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s Macquarie Group bolstered its near-term outlook after posting a record profit on Friday, and announced plans to raise at least A$1.5 billion ($1.13 billion) as it looks to step up green energy related investments. The country’s largest asset manager and world’s largest infrastructure investor more than doubled its first half profit to A$2.04 billion, boosted by a global power crunch that roiled commodity markets. Chief Executive Shemara Wikramanayake said raising capital would allow the bank to both maintain an appropriate capital surplus and continue to invest after deploying A$5.5 billion in the year to September. “We’re continuing to see these opportunities, so we think the capital raising will give us flexibility,” Wikramanayake said. The capital raising will take Macquarie’s stack of surplus capital to almost A$10 billion, while Macquarie managed funds have a separate $A27.9 billion in equity “dry powder” to deploy, she said. Wikramanayake flagged an increased focus on green investment, announcing that Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), which it acquired from the British government in 2017, would be moved from its investment unit into its funds management business to better capture investor appetite. “It seems like the appropriate time to bring this offering now to our fiduciary investors in the asset management world,” Wikramanayake said. GIG, which has more than 300 green energy projects with a pipeline of about 40 gigawatts under development, will be shifted from Macquarie Capital into Macquarie Asset Management from April 2022. The transfer will allow the company to own green assets through its funds for longer and give investors access to a broader set of assets addressing climate change, Wikramanayake said. “It will be quite an important part of their business and they’ll be able to monetise things for longer,” said Matthew Ryland, a portfolio manager at Greencape Capital. “It has a lot of IP and history in a space that is going to be quite important going forward”. Macquarie said its Commodities and Global Markets unit, its largest profit earner, was also starting to offer carbon offsets to clients. COMMODITY, INVESTMENT BANK UPGRADES Sydney-based Macquarie said it now expected its commodity business to be “in line” with the previous year in the second half of fiscal 2022, instead of “significantly down” as previously forecast. Gains from asset sales at its investment banking unit would be “significantly up”, it added, without providing guidance for the group as a whole. “This is likely lead to significant upgrades,” Citigroup banking analyst Brendan Sproules said. The company recorded double-digit growth in all its four businesses in the first half, including a local bank and its commodities and global markets unit, which saw a 60% rise in profit. Net profit at its banking and financial services unit grew 52% to A$482 million, driven by 14% growth in home lending amidst a nationwide surge in property prices. Prices of natural gas have soared in Europe and parts of Asia amid a global power crunch, boosting profit at Macquarie’s commodities and markets business to A$1.73 billion. As the second-biggest gas marketer in North America, Macquarie earned big profits reut.rs/3vTMByg for fiscal 2021 after a deep freeze in Texas sent gas prices surging. The A$1.5 billion ($1.13 billion) raising would be done through a placement at a price to be determined via a bookbuild on Friday, and an extra amount would be raised via a shareholder offer. The bookbuild will start at A$190 per share, the company said, a 6% discount to the record A$202.5 price Macquarie shares hit on Monday. It said it would pay a A$2.72 per share dividend for the half, or about 50% of its profits. Macquarie’s shares were suspended ahead of the market open on Friday and will remain halted until Nov. 1. ($1 = 1.3263 Australian dollars) Reporting by Paulina Duran in Sydney, and Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Lincoln Feast and Jane Wardell.