London, 4 December 2017
London-based private equity firm Hg and Asper Investment Management announced today the completion of the spin-out process of Hg's renewable energy infrastructure investment business to Asper.
The entire Hg renewable energy team is joining Asper, including 6 senior investment directors and 6 specialist finance, control and operations managers. Asper has taken over management of the two renewable energy infrastructure funds raised by Hg in 2006 and 2011, totalling over €800m of commitments, with strong support of the funds' investor base of 30 major pension funds and other blue-chip institutions. Asper also has a dedicated mandate providing investment management services to a European infrastructure investor.
The transition follows a strategic decision of Hg and its renewables team, who almost 2 years ago identified the spin-out as an opportunity for each specialist firm to focus on its asset class, to better leverage its distinctive expertise, and to provide superior service to its clients.
The core Asper team worked together for almost 10 years during their tenure at Hg. Together, they made investments in sustainable energy infrastructure across Europe worth approximately €2bn, building sustainable asset platforms from an early stage and combining them with strong local management teams to unlock value through scale economies and value chain integration. The team built 6 platforms of critical scale in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Spain.
Completion of the transition from Hg to Asper comes at the end of a year of strong performance, with successful exits in Ireland, Sweden and the UK. These contributed to the substantial value recovery delivered by Asper in the RPP2 fund, which faced headwinds from falling power prices in Sweden and retroactive tariff cuts in Spain in 2013/2014, and which the Asper team undertook to turn around.
Asper will seek to realize further value in the existing funds, whilst pursuing new investment opportunities in European sustainable infrastructure.
For further information:
info@asper-im.com
