Crédit Agricole Asset Management Alternative Investments, the alternative fund of funds arm of Crédit Agricole Asset Management, has announced plans to launch a fund of infra
Crédit Agricole Asset Management Alternative Investments, the alternative fund of funds arm of Crédit Agricole Asset Management, has announced plans to launch a fund of infrastructure funds in October with a target size of EUR600m.
The fund will be managed by Crédit Agricole Asset Management Capital Investors, whose dedicated infrastructure team has more than 25 years of accumulated experience in the infrastructure and energy sectors, and will draw on the expertise of CAAM Alternative Investments entities dedicated to alternative fund of funds management.
The group defines infrastructure investments as long-lived assets such as airports, ports, regulated electricity assets, hospitals, cable networks, water and distribution assets that provide an essential service to the community. It says investment in these assets has been driven by the growing need in OECD and emerging market countries to develop and upgrade these facilities and increasing public-sector support for infrastructure projects.
CAAM Alternative Investments says this new alternative asset class attracts investors seeking sources of diversification, stable cash flows and an attractive risk/return profile. Third-party infrastructure funds have been growing rapidly in the past four years and today a range of diverse strategies and investment styles.
‘This is an attractive but highly complex asset class with a truly global dimension,’ says Philippe Taillardat, head of infrastructure investments at CAAM Capital Investors. ‘The emergence over the past few years of many new investment groups will increase competition for quality assets, making manager selection a critical factor to building successful long-term exposure to the infrastructure asset class.
‘The hands-on experience of our team, our profound knowledge of the sector and the international presence of the Crédit Agricole group in infrastructure financing provide us with a unique platform within the infrastructure funds of funds community to identify and establish privileged relationships with the best infrastructure firms around the world.’
Marc Romano, chief executive of CAAM Alternative Investments, adds: ‘The CAAM Capital Investors infrastructure fund of funds is one of the four strategic axes in our product offering for investors, alongside private equity, hedge and real estate funds of funds. Crédit Agricole Asset Management can now offer investors a complete range of alternative asset classes to optimise portfolio construction.’
Crédit Agricole Asset Management Alternative Investments businesses managed EUR16.7bn in assets at the end of June in hedge fund, private equity and real estate funds of funds, through investment vehicles ranging from diversified multistrategy funds to specialised funds with generally low correlation to traditional asset classes.
