Arcano Capital is pleased to announce the final close of its first Sustainable Infrastructure Fund, “Arcano Earth Fund”, at EUR292 million, exceeding its EUR250 million target size.Launched in 2019, Arcano Earth Fund is a Spanish fund of funds vehicle that invests in sustainable infrastructure in Europe and North America, focusing on the energy transition, water, digital infrastructure, and sustainable transport sectors. Arcano Earth Fund seeks to provide its Limited Partners the opportunity to produce positive, measurable, and tangible impact on global sustainability while delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns and efficient diversification across various sectors and geographies.
Pierre Sáenz, Managing Director of the Fund, says: “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of our fundraising and the strong support from our investors. The market timing is favourable for sustainable infrastructure investments and our fund is well-positioned to capitalsze opportunities in our target sectors. Post-Covid-19 stimulus packages and industry megatrends (energy transition and digital infrastructures) will enable AEF to deliver long-term value to our investors.”
To date, the Fund has already deployed over 86 per cent of its capital to 18 investments, 13 of which are investments in funds and five of which are direct co-investments. The Team continues to have a robust pipeline of primaries, secondaries, and direct co-investments and expects to be fully committed in the coming months.
Reinforcing its superior ESG and sustainability characteristics, Arcano Earth Fund was invited to become an Investor Member, alongside a select group of 34 large global funds, by GRESB, the leading reference for evaluating and benchmarking sustainable infrastructure funds across the world. In fact, in GRESB’s 2020 sustainability assessment, Arcano Earth Fund scored 28/30 or 93 per cent, well-above its global peers. Furthermore, regarding UNPRI’s 2020 Assessment, Arcano Earth Fund scored A+, the highest possible score in the evaluation. Finally, Arcano Earth Fund adheres to the Operating Principles for Impact Management in order to draw on the best practices in measuring and monitoring its impact on sustainability.
Jose Luis del Río, Partner and CEO of Arcano Capital, sayds: “Our investment philosophy has always been guided by our strong commitment to sustainability, not only by seeking attractive risk-adjusted returns. Thus, we are very pleased to be recognized as a best in class sustainable asset manager not only by leading supranational institutions such as GRESB and UNPRI but also by our Limited Partners who have been appreciative of our efforts to drive sustainability in all phases of our investment process.”
