The latest Infrastructure Investor debt fund ranking reveals that the 30 top debt fund managers raised more than $162 billion between them from 1 January 2017 until 31 August 2022. Here’s the top 10 fundraisers in the market.
1. BlackRock
HQ: New York
Capital raised: $20.44bn
Total AUM: $8.59trn
BlackRock has taken the top spot for the second consecutive year, having briefly slipped into second place back in 2021. The New York-based firm increased its raised funds by a further $4.25 billion since the last ranking.
On the closed-end fund side, a notable highlight last year was the final close of its $640 million Colombia Infrastructure Debt Fund II, which was three times the size of its predecessor and the country’s largest local currency infrastructure debt fund. BlackRock also secured a number of infrastructure debt SMAs last year.
2. Ares Management
HQ: Los Angeles
Capital raised: $14.4bn
Total AUM: $341bn
Ares Management has jumped into second position in the ranking, despite failing to make the top 30 list last year, after acquiring AMP Capital’s infrastructure debt platform in 2022. The transaction added another $8 billion in assets, resulting in combined infrastructure assets under management of over $12 billion across Ares’ debt and equity portfolio.
The newly named Ares Infrastructure Debt Fund IV also successfully raised another $500 million in Q3, before closing on $5 billion in early 2023. It is described by Ares Management’s global head of infrastructure debt, Patrick Trears, as “the largest global infrastructure subordinated debt fund closed”.
3. AXA IM Alts
HQ: Paris
Capital raised: $12.51bn
Total AUM: €184bn
AXA IM Alts holds on to the third spot after previously topping the ranking in 2021. In 2020, the French manager merged its various alternative investment units and later that year closed its second infrastructure debt fund on €1.05 billion, exceeding the initial target of €750 million. 75 percent of the commitments received came from European investors, with the remainder from Asian LPs.
That fund was launched in 2018 and followed hot on the heels of AXA’s debut European Infrastructure Senior vehicle released in 2016, which closed on €1.2 billion. The manager shifted strategy slightly, targeting floating rate investments for the second debt fund while its debut fund focused on fixed-rate deals.
4. Macquarie Asset Management
HQ: Sydney
Capital raised: $11.78bn
Total AUM: $579
Macquarie Asset Management has reached fourth place for a third consecutive year after launching its €750 million targeted Green Energy Debt Fund back in 2021. Last year, the manager made a host of investments from its energy transition fund, including a £275 million ($333 million; €310 million) refinancing investment in UK solar power plants; a €43 million debt investment in a Spanish concentrated solar power plant owned by Q-Energy; and a €100 million debt investment in renewable energy portfolio developer Falck Renewables. The renewables operator estimates that its portfolio circumvents roughly 550,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in greenhouse gas emissions being released into the atmosphere annually.
5. EIG
HQ: Washington, DC
Capital raised: $11.59bn
Total AUM: $24bn
US-based manager EIG fell one spot shy of top billing in 2020 when it reached a high of second place, but this year finished in fifth for a second consecutive year. The manager’s most recent credit vehicle closed on $1.1 billion in 2020, exceeding its $750 million target and focused on the energy transition.
In 2022, investments included a €500 million structured credit facility to pan-European independent power producer ILOS Projects to build out more than 2GW of capacity through solar and battery projects by 2026. In July, another independent power producer, Opdenergy, also secured a corporate debt facility of €250 million from EIG and Generali Global Infrastructure and aims to become a large-scale IPP in Europe, the US and Latin America.
6. Allianz Global Investors
HQ: Frankfurt
Capital raised: $9bn
Total AUM: $521bn
Another non-mover in sixth spot, German manager Allianz Global Investors increased capital raised by $1.2 billion over the past 12 months. In February 2022, the firm announced its infrastructure debt platform, first launched in 2012, had hit €20 billion in cumulative investments. The vehicle has closed more than 100 investments in 20 countries across three strategies.
In June, Allianz also announced $250 million in investment to support the construction of the Ferrocarril railway project, the largest ever infrastructure debt investment in Uruguay and its fourth in the country. The project is projected to be completed in Q2 2023. Since 2015, Allianz says it has deployed over $7.3 billion in infrastructure debt investments across the Americas, including $2.6 billion in Latin America.
7. Infranity
HQ: Milan
Capital raised: $8.05bn
Total AUM: €7.8bn
Another new entrant in the ranking this year, Italian-headquartered Infranity is part of the Generali Investments ecosystem of asset management firms and was founded last year. Previously Generali Global Infrastructure, the manager closed two debt funds in 2021 with a combined €2.57 billion and also launched a second senior infrastructure debt fund in the same year, targeting €2 billion to invest in essential infrastructure across Europe.
In December, the manager agreed a new €120 million debt facility with Berlin-based greentech energy company Enpal to refinance more than 30,000 new solar plants, energy storage systems and EV chargers in Germany.
8. Brookfield Asset Management
HQ: Toronto
Capital raised: $7.27bn
Total AUM: $725bn
Canadian-headquartered Brookfield Asset Management has jumped four places in this year’s ranking into eighth place, increasing capital raised by $2.97 billion. In April last year, the firm launched its third infrastructure debt fund and in November reached $3.1 billion on first close, just short of its $4 billion target, mostly receiving commitments from US and UK pension funds.
Like the vehicle’s predecessors, the fund focuses on providing junior and mezzanine debt. Brookfield’s second infrastructure debt vehicle closed on $2.7 billion in 2020, eclipsing the initial target of $1.75 billion. The fund primarily targets investments in renewables, utilities, transportation, data and the energy sector.
9. Barings
HQ: Charlotte
Capital raised: $6.83bn
Total AUM: $347bn
Dropping just the one spot since last year, North Carolina-based Barings closed its first-ever dedicated infrastructure debt fund last year on $630 million, easily surpassing its target of $500 million, and will focus on a mix of junior and senior debt offered in North America and Europe.
In 2020 and 2021, Barings failed to rank at all but surged into the top 10 last year and has since stayed put. The firm created a standalone group focused on the debt asset class in 2013 and has since invested more than $18 billion across more than 300 transactions.
10. Global Infrastructure Partners
HQ: New York
Capital raised: $5.6bn
Total AUM: $79bn
After rising eight spots last year, New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners dropped back three rungs in this year’s latest ranking. The manager closed two infrastructure debt funds in 2020 for $2.9 billion and in January 2022 made two investments from its second credit fund worth $675 million.
GIP announced a $500 million investment in independent renewable power producer BrightNight and another $175 million senior secured loan to fund acquisition and construction of a 670MW power plant in Panama. The strategy provides credit to GIP’s core sectors of power, renewables, energy transition, digital, midstream energy, transportation and water/waste.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story highlighted the Green Private Credit Fund III as a vehicle raised by BlackRock’s infrastructure debt team. That was incorrect, and we have amended BlackRock’s entry to reflect that.
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