Asterion hits €1.5bn hard-cap as it eyes further commitments – exclusive

Asterion Industrial Partners has reached its €1.5 billion hard-cap on its second industrial infrastructure fund eight months after the firm started fundraising for it, Infrastructure Investor can exclusively reveal. Although the manager has stopped active fundraising activities, it is in talks with LPs to potentially raise the vehicle’s hard-cap by a small amount in order to accept a few more investors before the year ends.

The sophomore vehicle was originally targeting €1.35 billion and has so far attracted commitments from 39 global LPs. It had reached a €925 million first close in May, roughly two months after it started fundraising. Fund II will follow its €1.1 billion predecessor’s strategy, remaining loyal to its mid-market strategy and targeting investments in the telecoms, energy, utilities and mobility sectors in its key markets, which include the UK, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

It also has a 10-year lifespan like its predecessor as well as the flexibility to invest in larger opportunities through co-investments.

To date, Fund II has invested in two assets: a controlling stake in newly created Barter Energy, a Spanish community solar developer; and Retelit, an independent Italian fibre operator.

Barter Energy, which describes itself as an energy start-up, will be part of Asterion’s newly launched Energy Transition Solutions platform. Unlike Asterion Energies, a platform the firm created through Fund I that comprises grid-connected wind and solar projects, ETS “is a provider for distributed energy and energy efficiency solutions”, a spokesman previously told Infrastructure Investor.

Fund I is nearly fully deployed and aims to generate gross returns of 12-14 percent, plus an average 5 percent yield.