Vantage adds UK govt advisor and Morgan Stanley exec in triple hire

UK-based manager Vantage Infrastructure has bolstered its ranks with three hires, two months after asset manager Northill Capital completed its takeover and rebranded the Hastings Fund Management group’s international business.

Ed Arulanandam has joined the firm in as vice-president, after spending the past year at the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, advising on structuring government equity and debt investments in strategic energy and infrastructure projects.

He will focus on asset management of equity investments and transaction execution at Vantage, although a spokeswoman confirmed to Infrastructure Investor he is employed on a term contract.

In addition to his role at BEIS, Arulanandam has significant experience in the private equity energy space, having spent nearly five years as vice-president at Riverstone Holdings. He moved on to a similar role between 2014 and 2016 at the upstream and midstream-focused manager Blue Water Energy.

Vantage has also hired Omar Rahman, formerly executive director at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners for nearly 10 years. Rahman has joined Vantage’s equity team as an investment director, focused on originating and executing investments as well as developing relationships with new partners.

Rahman has “extensive experience in fundraising”, according to his LinkedIn profile. An equity fund and possibly a debt fund are slated for launches towards the end of next year, senior partner Oliver Schubert told Infrastructure Investor last month.

Vantage has also added Laurent Bernard to the debt team as an associate, focusing on asset management of the group’s debt investments. Bernard has joined from Fitch Ratings, having previously worked at Société Générale.

Schubert maintained that Vantage remains “very selective in our hiring”. The team stands at 26 investment professionals, with the latest hires replacing one departure, one long-term leave of absence, and one maternity-leave cover, Vantage confirmed.

The additions come two months after Northill Capital took control of the international business of Hastings Funds Management from Australian bank Westpac. Vantage Infrastructure has an equity and debt infrastructure investment portfolio with more than $3 billion invested in infrastructure assets largely across Europe, although it also has interests in the US and Australia.

Hastings’ Australia business is expected to cease to exist by this summer, Infrastructure Investor reported in March.