De Run departs Federated Hermes for second time – exclusive

Hamish de Run has resigned his role as global head of infrastructure at London-based manager Federated Hermes, less than two years after returning to the firm.

De Run was a partner at the firm between January 2012 and March 2017, before leaving to pursue interests outside the sector. He returned as head of the unit in November 2019 to replace the departing Peter Hofbauer. During his time away from the group, US-based Federated Investors acquired the former BT pension scheme manager Hermes Investment Management. De Run will be replaced by partner Perry Noble, who joined the firm in 2012.

A spokesperson for Federated Hermes said in a statement: “We can confirm that Hamish de Run is stepping down as Head of Infrastructure for Federated Hermes and [are] very pleased to announce that Perry Noble will replace him. Perry oversees the origination, execution and management of the firm’s infrastructure investments and is a member of the infrastructure investment committee. He is a highly respected Infrastructure professional with over 25 years of infrastructure industry experience.”

De Run joins other senior departures from the unit in the past 12 months – such as Robert Wall, who left as partner in October and recently joined Lazard Asset Management, and Luke Bugeja, who joined as a transport-focused operating partner in January 2020 but left in June to become chief executive of Ferrovial Airports. James Wardlaw, former head of infrastructure at placement agent Campbell Lutyens, joined Federated Hermes as a partner in November 2020.

At the time of Wardlaw’s appointment, de Run told Infrastructure Investor that the pair would “sit down and make an assessment on where we go with” Hermes Infrastructure Fund II. The 2016-vintage fund has raised £288 million ($395.9 million; €335.1 million), having been targeting £1 billion. De Run said in November that the fund would be open until this summer. The spokesperson declined to comment on whether the fund is still open, although Infrastructure Investor is aware of it still being marketed to prospective LPs in recent weeks.

The fund has deployed the proceeds raised to date in four investments: Danish ferry operator Scandlines, an 813MW wind portfolio in Sweden, a Spanish toll road portfolio and a minority interest in UK waste group Viridor as part of KKR’s $4.2 billion acquisition last year.

Last year, Hermes Infrastructure Fund I realised investments in the 72MW Braes of Doun wind farm and in Energy Assets Group. However, as a result of covid-19, it has had to plough additional equity into Eurostar. It is believed to retain an interest in UK utility Southern Water, which was fined £90 million in July by the Environment Agency before Macquarie’s majority stake acquisition last month.