Actis appoints ex-EQT exec as partner

Emerging market specialist Actis has appointed Glen Matsumoto as a partner within its real assets business.

Actis said Matsumoto will initially be based in its New York office which opened 11 months ago. Matsumoto is the firm’s second senior hire in New York in the space of six weeks after it recruited Carlton Byrd as a director in its investor development group from Commonfund.

Matsumoto will report to Torbjorn Caesar, senior partner at Actis, with whom he worked during his time as head of infrastructure finance at ABB between 1996 and 2002.

Most recently, he was a partner at EQT, ending his eight-year tenure at the firm in July 2015. His appointment at Actis is his first role since his departure. At EQT, Matsumoto led the fundraising of both EQT Infrastructure I and EQT Infrastructure II, two funds closed on €1.2 billion and €1.9 billion respectively.

The funds are notable for backing businesses less usually thought of as infrastructure assets, such as cooking oil company Restaurant Technologies, which EQT Infrastructure I acquired in 2011. At the time, Matsumoto said: “Clearly it’s not a bridge, it’s not an airport. But we feel that there is clearly a strong tie-in with the local community and a strong barrier to entry in terms of other competitors.”

Actis manages $6.3 billion in assets and has offices in 12 locations across the world. It is currently raising funds for Actis Energy 4, a renewables-focused fund which recently received backing from the International Finance Corporation.