Spanish infrastructure manager Asterion closes inaugural fund at €1.1bn
Spain-based Asterion Industrial Partners, which focuses on infrastructure investments across Europe, has raised €1.1bn for its first fund.
Asterion Industrial Infra Fund I raised the original €1bn hard cap to €1.1bn to be able to accommodate strong demand above the €850m initial target, said the company in a note.
In addition to the c. €1.1bn of capital commitments to the Fund, the Asterion team has also generated more than €500m of co-investment opportunities in some of its transactions closed to date also including opportunities pending closing, taking total capital under the company's management to close to €1.6bn.
Investors in the Fund include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, insurance companies and endowments from across Europe, North America, Middle East and Asia.
The firm recently completed its fourth investment and first-take private acquisition of AMP Clean Energy in the UK. The company was delisted from UK AIM Stock Market as a result of that.
AMP Clean Energy is a low-carbon distributed energy and energy services business based in the UK, one of Asterion's core investment geographies.
Richard Burrell, chief executive of AMP Clean Energy said: "This transaction has allowed AMP Clean Energy shareholders to crystallise value whilst providing AMP Clean Energy with the stable source of capital that it requires to move forward and achieve its ambitions. We truly believe Asterion is the right partner to support AMP Clean Energy in this new phase of its journey."
This transaction represents the fourth investment for Asterion Industrial Infra Fund I, adding UK exposure to the existing portfolio based in France, Spain and in small parts in the US and Latam through Nabiax. To date, the Fund's sector exposures include investments in the energy services industry (submetering and renewable distributed energy), renewables and data centres, in line with its core strategy focus.
In December 2019, Asterion also partnered with rival fund manager F2i to buy Italian energy specialist Sorgenia from a vehicle owned by the main Italian banks.
Sorgenia is an integrated energy utility with 3.2 GW of gas-fired power generation capacity and a fast-growing electricity and gas retail platform.
Asterion Industrial Partners is an independent investment management firm focusing on infrastructure investments in the European mid-market. The firm is headquartered in Madrid but has also presence in London and Paris.
