Nekton Global, an energy merchant business chaired by Gerard Lopez, the financier behind Skype, has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Rise Capital AB, a specialist private equity business focussed on pursing infrastructure investments in Russia.
The infrastructure construction industry has experienced rapid early stage growth driven by substantial government backing creating extensive opportunities for international investor participation. Founded in 2013, Rise Capital has built up an extensive track record and expertise in the sector, working alongside some of Russia’s leading construction and engineering groups, as well as financial and banking institutions.
The partnership between Nekton Global and Rise Capital will bring together complementary skillsets to facilitate the successful deployment of capital in Russian infrastructure. Rise Capital’s primary investment focus is on infrastructure, including public-private partnership arrangements (PPP), across a range of sectors and industries, including energy, transport and social infrastructure. With a strong background in energy investing, Nekton Global will utilise its extensive experience, network and financing capabilities to help source additional financing for projects, with a particular focus on wealth funds, pension funds and institutional investors in Asia and the Middle East.
Rise Capital will be positioned to further consolidate its position as a leading investor in Russian infrastructure with an extensive existing portfolio and a substantial future pipeline consisting of 45 potential projects. Investment ticket sizes in these projects will range from US$500m to US$2bn, utilising a combination of equity and debt financing arrangements, with Rise Capital seeking to increase its investment capacity over the next five years to approximately US$12bn.
As part of the transaction, Gerard Lopez, Chairman and Chief Executive of Nekton, will become Chairman of the Board at Rise Capital.
Lopez, says: “We see tremendous opportunities in infrastructure investing in Russia and see great growth potential in the country, which can be leveraged using the right mix of management expertise, experience and capital deployment. We are pleased to have the opportunity merge the experience and capabilities of Nekton and Rise Capital in order to secure new sources of debt and equity capital while ensuring world-class asset construction and development in Russian infrastructure projects for the key strategic industries.”
Rise Capital Chairman, Sergey Romashov, adds: “Nekton is a credible and strong partner for Rise Capital. I am confident that our new partnership will help us both to realise our ambitions and plans here in Russia”.
