39. (1) The Agency shall hold or invest the assets of the Fund (other than directed investments) on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in the State.

(2) The assets held or invested in accordance with subsection (1) shall be held or invested so as to seek to secure such rates of return as the Agency considers appropriate having regard to the level of risk to the assets.

(3) If and to the extent that it is not reasonably practicable to hold or invest any assets of the Fund in accordance with subsection (1), the assets shall be held or invested on a commercial basis with a view to seeking to secure such rates of return as appears to the Agency to be an appropriate return having regard to—

(a) the time at which it appears likely to be reasonably practicable to hold or invest the assets in accordance with subsection (1), and

(b) the level of risk to the assets.

(4) In determining what is an appropriate rate of return to seek to secure for the purposes of subsection (2) or (3), the Agency may aim for different levels of return for different investments and types of investments provided that it seeks to secure, over the long term, in relation to the assets of the Fund (taken as a whole) a rate of return greater than the annual interest cost of the general government debt (that is, the total gross debt at nominal value of the general government of the State, as arrived at in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No. 479/2009 of 25 May 2009 ¹ as amended by Council Regulation (EU) No. 679/2010 of 26 July 2010 ²) averaged over 5 years.

(5) The assets of the Fund may be held or invested in or outside the State.

(6) All income, capital and other benefits received in respect of holdings or investments shall be paid into the Fund.

(7) This section is subject to the terms on which any assets of the Fund are held or invested on the coming into operation of this section.