Ancala boosts team with two hires

UK-based mid-market manager Ancala Partners has hired two people for its asset management and investment teams.

Charles Herriott joins the team from Dutch fund manager DIF, where he helped manage a portfolio of 12 PPP and renewable energy assets. He will retain the same asset manager role at Ancala. Herriot has also had stints at Amber Infrastructure, Ernst & Young and Smith & Williamson.

The second hire is Christopher Lee-Evans, who will join as an analyst with the investment team from Equinox Energy Capital, where he covered renewables.

Ancala has been busy this year, closing its Mid-Market Infrastructure Platform in January on £400 million ($512.8 million; €472.4 million) after securing capital predominantly from UK-based pension funds. Ancala is targeting an IRR of 9 percent, with returns to be fully delivered by 2024, according to the Berkshire Pension Fund, which last year pledged £50 million to the platform.

On the deal front, recent transactions include the completion of the UK’s first large-scale deployment of battery storage alongside utility-scale solar plants; and the acquisition of Biogen, an owner and operator of anaerobic digestion plants in the UK.