Affiliated Managers Group, a holding company of asset management boutiques, will take a minority stake in Madrid-based renewable energy infrastructure developer Qualitas Energy, according to a joint news release.
Details of the deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, weren’t disclosed.
The acquisition — which will leave Qualitas’ management team with a majority stake in a firm boasting €3.5 billion ($4 billion) assets under management and 11 gigawatts of operational and development-stage renewable energy assets — is in line with AMG’s recent focus on adding private markets and liquid alternatives capabilities. AMG had focused on long-only equities boutiques over its first few decades.
At the same time, the deal suggests that “energy transition” and “sustainable infrastructure” — terms that have become politically fraught in the U.S. in recent years — continue to be attractive in other parts of the world.
Qualitas, which has raised roughly €5 billion in capital across six funds since the firm’s launch in 2006, is firmly focused on Europe, with offices in Madrid; Berlin; London; Milan; Hamburg, Wiesbaden, Trier, Cologne and Stuttgart in Germany; Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland; Santiago, Chile; Durham and Bristol in England; and Edinburgh.
Jay Horgen, AMG’s president and CEO, said in the news release that “given the increasing focus on energy independence and security in Europe … Qualitas Energy is well-positioned to build on its business momentum.”
