Executive Asterion Industrial Partners completed the largest private equity fund in Spain’s history. The investment firm has secured approval from the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) to launch its third vehicle, aiming for a market debut between 2017 and 2019. The target range is 3,200 to 3,600 million euros, a figure unseen in the industry before.
According to the introductory brochure filed with the regulator, the fund will target four sectors: energy infrastructure, energy-related services and materials, telecommunications, and mobility. From a pan-European perspective, the focus remains on Spain and Portugal, with 60% of the capital expected to be allocated between 1,920 and 2,160 million euros.
Asterion’s leadership includes prominent executives with prior ties to the North American giant KKR: Jesús Olmos Clavijo, the former director of global infrastructure and previously the general manager of Corporate Development at the Spanish company Endesa. Founding partners include Winnie Wutte and Guido Mitrani.
The new vehicle, Asterion Industrial Infrastructure Fund III, will be the third fund launched by the firm, with Deloitte serving as auditor, King & Wood Mallesons as legal counsel, and BBVA as custodian. The second fund, raised in February 2022, surpassed its initial target by 450 million after securing 1.8 billion euros from 44 international organizations. This time, the target size is 3.2 billion euros, with a hard cap of 3.6 billion.
Features of the new registration fund
The fund will accept investments only from institutional investors and the personal assets of a defined entity, with a minimum commitment of ten million euros. Asterion reserves the right to accept smaller subscriptions. The vehicle has a ten-year lifespan, pending the customary first closing in the sector.
The fund will invest primarily in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France, while pursuing opportunistic acquisitions in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the broader European Economic Area. Despite a long list of countries, more than 60% of exposure will be concentrated in the Iberian Peninsula, with no single country receiving more than 40% of commitments, and up to 15% of capital potentially deployed outside Europe.
According to the regulator’s document, Asterion will typically invest between 150 and 300 million euros per company, provided the company’s value remains under 1,000 million euros. The fund cannot allocate more than 15% of its capital to publicly traded companies, and no more than 50% to any single sector within such companies.
Asterion investments in Spain
Led by Jesús Olmos Clavijo, the manager has a long track record in Spain. It acquired 75 percent of SSG Group, which operates more than 1,300 ambulances in the country. Six months earlier, it acquired a majority stake in Parkis, an urban mobility platform focused on the integration and operation of outdoor parking. Among early acquisitions, notable positions include Nabiax, a data center operator with 29 megawatts of power supply located across Spain, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina, and WorldFiber, a cable network provider in southeastern Spain.