CapDyn raises £44m amid senior departures

Capital Dynamics (CapDyn) reached a £44 million ($62.5 million; €57.6 million) first close on its latest clean energy infrastructure fund, despite the recent departure of founding partner Karl Olsoni, the latest in a series of senior departures, according to a source close to the Swiss fund manager.

The Clean Energy and Infrastructure III fund, which is said to be targeting around £70 million sterling, should close in the first half of this year, the source told Low Carbon Energy Investor, and will continue CapDyn’s focus on North American and European clean energy assets. The vehicle is set to close a little more than a year after its global clean energy fund closed in December 2014 at $462.5 million.

The fundraising comes amidst a flurry of senior level departures in the past year, the most recent being founding partner and former managing director Karl Olsoni. The source said Olsoni’s move was “very much anticipated.”

Olsoni, along with three other founding partners who left last year, launched CapDyn’s clean energy infrastructure group over five years ago, building its balance sheet to $1.2 billion and successfully investing and exiting the Capital Dynamics Solar Energy Fund.

Another source close to the situation told Low Carbon Energy Investor that Olsoni left CapDyn about a month ago. His decision was partly attributed to him being the last of the original partners and that it was time to “tie up the loose ends”.

The other CapDyn clean energy partners who left the firm are David Scaysbrook, Rory Quinlan and Bob McClenachan. Scaysbrook and Quinlan have since founded the private equity firm Private Energy Partners in Australia, where McClenachan is a managing director.

To fill one of those roles, CapDyn recently hired Simon Eaves to manage its clean energy infrastructure team in Europe. Before joining CapDyn, Eaves spent six years at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s infrastructure team.

John Breckenridge remains as global leader for the Clean Energy & Infrastructure team. He confirmed last August that CapDyn was entering a new round of fundraising for the Clean Energy and Infrastructure III fund.

In March, Breckenridge said the $462.5 million Clean Energy Infrastructure Fund was almost fully invested, just a few months after its December 2014 close. The firm was investing in wind and natural gas-fired projects in the UK and North America.

A version of this article first appeared on Low Carbon Energy Investor, our sister publication focused on global energy transition markets.