The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Hamilton Lane, Quaero Capital
Geneva-headquartered asset manager Quaero Capital has closed a single-asset continuation vehicle for its water platform of companies offering municipal and industrial infrastructure services to the Spanish and French markets. The continuation vehicle is anchored by funds managed by the lead investor, US-headquartered private market investment firm Hamilton Lane, an early partner in this process due to the firm’s experience and interest in this sector. The continuation vehicle also includes HarbourVest as a substantial investor as well as additional institutional investors. Quaero European Infrastructure Fund III (QEIF III) participated in the investment in the water platform alongside the continuation vehicle.

The water platform brings together several Spanish and French businesses, including the water utility company Aqlara and the industrial water specialist Forafrance, providing water services across the entire water value chain. It creates a diversified water player, using combined scale, experienced management and operational synergies, the firm said in a statement. The water group will focus on developing within its core existing markets of Spain and France. The platform presents an attractive opportunity to access the European water sector, which requires considerable investment to address today’s challenges faced by municipalities and industrial companies.

“We have strong conviction in the water sector. Investment needs are considerable, supporting attractive growth perspectives,” Sébastien Bourget, managing partner, head of infrastructure at Quaero Capital, said: “The challenges at stake are critical: addressing ageing infrastructure, resource scarcity, and improving the quality of water treatment. Investment opportunities in this sector are very limited, particularly those with the characteristics of our platform, which operates across multiple countries, serves both municipal and industrial water markets, and covers the entire value chain. This represents a unique asset for QEIF III and the continuation fund.”

Hamilton Lane has been an active infrastructure investor for more than 25 years, offering commingled funds, evergreen vehicles and separately managed client account solutions. Hamilton Lane’s infrastructure platform represents more than $87 billion in assets under management and supervision. It recently completed fundraising for Hamilton Lane Infrastructure Opportunities Fund II (HLIOF II) in January, exceeding $1.5 billion. The participation of HLIOF II in the water platform alongside Quaero is the 14th investment in the fund.

Quaero Capital also completed fundraising for Quaero European Infrastructure Fund III (QEIF III) in December, exceeding €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion). The participation of QEIF III in the water platform alongside the water continuation vehicle is the third investment of QEIF III. Since its launch 10 years ago, Quaero Capital has raised a total of €2.7 billion for its infrastructure business.

S64, Ardian
S64, a London-headquartered global private markets fintech and solutions partner to the wealth management industry, has entered a partnership with Ardian, a Paris-headquartered private investment firm with $200 billion in assets under management and supervision, across private equity, real assets and private credit platforms.

Under the partnership, S64 and Ardian will launch the S64 Ardian Access Infrastructure Fund, an evergreen Australian unit trust. The collaboration will unlock access for Australia’s wealth management industry to Ardian’s infrastructure strategies through the S64 Australian Unit Trust Platform.

The fund is a differentiated solution for investors seeking to access private infrastructure through both Ardian’s infrastructure and infrastructure secondaries platforms, the firm said in a statement. Ardian’s infrastructure platform, which manages $47 billion assets under management (AuM), has a track record that spans more than 20 years. The secondaries platform has $102 billion in AuM. Through this partnership, the Australian wealth market can access Ardian’s Institutional-quality strategies via a modern, advisor-friendly solution.

The evergreen structure aims to offer monthly subscriptions with quarterly liquidity, providing immediate capital deployment into a global infrastructure portfolio. S64’s Australian Unit Trust Platform enables financial intermediaries to distribute private markets and listed alternatives opportunities to wholesale and advised retail clients through product manufacturing solutions and end-to-end digital lifecycle management.

“Infrastructure offers recurring cash yield, inflation protection, and historically lower volatility, making it a powerful addition to investor portfolios,” Jan Philipp Schmitz, executive vice president, head of investor relations, and deputy co-head of secondaries and primaries at Ardian, said.