HQ: New York
Capital Raised: $18.59bn
Total AUM: $10trn
BlackRock held onto the top spot for a third consecutive year, despite announcing no significant new raises over the past 12 months.
In October, the New York-based firm launched Global Infrastructure Debt Fund II, a new energy transition-focused debt vehicle to help drive decarbonisation in Europe and the US. In January 2022, BlackRock also closed Colombia Infrastructure Debt Fund II, its second fund for the South American country, achieving its hard-cap target of $630 million.
Despite the drop in raised capital this year, the US manager sits almost $5 billion ahead of the nearest competition.
HQ: Los Angeles
Capital Raised: $13.6bn
Total AUM: $378bn
Two years ago, Ares Management failed to make the top 30 listing, but in December 2022 it closed Ares Infrastructure Debt Fund V on $5 billion. Ares Management says the fund will invest primarily in North America and Europe, but will also look at opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region.
The California-based manager clung onto second place for the second consecutive year, despite its capital raised falling by 6 percent from last year. The manager’s third debt fund fell off the counting period, which had closed $500 million above the $2 billion target set in 2017. It is currently in market with AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Asia.
HQ: Sydney
Capital Raised: $12.78bn
Total AUM: $589.1bn
Macquarie Asset Management had held the fourth spot for three consecutive years, but finally leapt into third place. The Australia-based manager recorded an 8 percent jump in raised capital since last year’s ranking, estimated at around $996.11 million.
In mid-2023, Macquarie made several strategic hires to expand the private infrastructure credit business. Harlan Cherniak was appointed head of infrastructure debt for the Americas and Gurjit Orjela was selected to focus on high-yield infrastructure debt opportunities in Europe. In November, the manager also said it would expand its private credit offering into credit portfolio financing.
HQ: Paris
Capital Raised: $11.22bn
Total AUM: $199.77bn
In 2021, AXA Investment Managers achieved the top spot in the infrastructure debt ranking before dropping into third position and staying there over the past two years. AXA finished in fourth place when the inaugural ranking was compiled in 2019.
The Paris-based manager swapped places with Macquarie in this year’s ranking after its capital raised total fell by almost $3 billion, a difference of around 10 percent from last year’s numbers. This was due to AXA’s European Infrastructure Senior I fund dropping out of the counting period and no significant debt fund closes announced.
HQ: Paris
Capital Raised: $10.12bn
Total AUM: $9.7bn
Paris-based investment firm Infranity, part of Generali Investments in Italy, was a new entrant in last year’s ranking and once again experienced a big injection of capital in 2023. Funding has soared by 26 percent over the past 12 months as debt funds including GGI Senior Infrastructure Debt II and IF Senior Infrastructure Debt III both closed.
These combined closes propelled Infranity up two places and increased capital raised by more than $2 billion from 2022, when the firm also launched its fourth senior debt strategy, which has already raised €425 million against a target of €1.5 billion, according to Infrastructure Investor data.
HQ: Washington, DC
Capital Raised: $10.07bn
Total AUM: $24bn
US-based manager EIG fell one spot in the ranking this year after funding slipped by around 13 percent. The firm is currently in market with EIG Energy Fund XVIII, which launched in Q1 2022, after the previous vehicle closed on $3.11 billion back in June 2019.
In January, pan-European renewable energy producer Aukera announced a €450 million structured credit facility from EIG to help finance and construct more than 1.5GW of solar, wind and battery storage projects across the UK, Germany, Italy and Romania. The energy fund series focuses on opportunities across the entire energy value chain.
HQ: Frankfurt
Capital Raised: $10.06bn
Total AUM: $557.41bn
Dropping one spot in the ranking from last year, Germany-based Allianz Global Investors says diversification will be essential as the market environment and valuations may present opportunities in private markets such as private credit and infrastructure.
In its 2024 outlook, Allianz writes: “As interest rates begin to level off, a new investment environment is emerging with opportunities that may not have existed in years. Uncertainty remains high with the potential for an oil-price shock and the implications of November’s US election adding to the mix. But the good news is investors may be rewarded for taking risk again.”
HQ: Charlotte
Capital Raised: $9.33bn
Total AUM: $351bn
Barings moves back into eighth position after a one-year hiatus when the firm briefly fell into ninth place after the US manager closed its inaugural infrastructure debt fund in August 2022.
The Barings Target Yield Infrastructure Debt fund reached more than $100 million above the initial $500 million target, after attracting interest from a mix of public and private pension funds and insurance companies. The fund is pursuing returns of around 6-7 percent and consists of a mix of junior and senior debt. The debut infra debt fund will focus on investments in North America and Europe.
HQ: Toronto
Capital Raised: $8.46bn
Total AUM: $865bn
Brookfield may have dropped one place in the ranking this year, but the Canadian manager posted a strong 17 percent increase in capital raised. In November, the firm announced the closing of its third debt vintage on $6 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Debt Fund III closed $2 billion above the expected target and almost seven times larger than the series’ inaugural fund, which fell from the counting period.
Over half of the fund has already been deployed across projects in renewables, data centres and other sectors. The main geographical focus of the fund is on North America and Europe, while Brookfield claimed the close made it the world’s largest debt fund.
HQ: New York
Capital Raised: $7.1bn
Total AUM: $1.04trn
Blackstone is a new entry to the ranking this year after closing the firm’s third transition-focused credit vintage on more than $7 billion. The US-based manager called BGREEN III the “largest energy transition private credit fund ever raised” and plans to support the shift away from fossil fuels by investing in LNG, as well as renewables and other low-carbon infrastructure.
Blackstone’s second energy transition vehicle raised $4.5 billion against a target of $5 billion, while the debut vintage managed to raise $3.5 billion. The steady growth in investment across the three funds underlines the industry-wide appetite for decarbonisation that has been seen in recent years.
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