The Nordics have long been a haven for infrastructure, attracting investors from all over the globe. Now, with the energy transition ramping up, the region is becoming even more popular, with regional infrastructure managers benefitting from this trend.

Lisa Botter, head of content for M&A and funds at IJInvestor (an IJGlobal service), speaks with CapMan chief executive Pia Kall and managing partner Ville Poukka. 

This latest episode can be accessed on Spotify (embedded above) as well as through Apple Podcasts and the Amazon service. It is also hosted across a slew of other platforms and is open access on all of them.

The Nordic infrastructure investor in April reached final close at €375 million ($412.9m) on CapMan Nordic Infrastructure II. The fund invest will invest in energy, transportation, and digital infrastructure across the Nordics. 

Pia (pictured right) started by reintroducing the listener to CapMan. The Nordic private investment group has €5.7 billion primarily focuses on real assets, of which infrastructure is a growing strategy. 

The "local player", as Pia describes the asset manager, focuses on creating value with teams close to the market.

Ville (pictured below left) has been building the infrastructure business from scratch and the final close of the second fund proves the strategy – deal sourcing locally and creating value. 

Ville says the asset manager recognised the need for private investment in infrastructure across Europe post financial crisis.

However, this was dominated by ever-growing large cap investors that were covering all of Europe, and with ticket prices inching up there were fewer opportunities in the Nordics as the region is so fragmented. 

CapMan has a middle market DNA, which fit quite well with the needs of the Nordics.

The second fund is nearly double the size of its predecessor fund CapMan Nordic Infrastructure I.

This shows the strength of the strategy and the need from investors to gain exposure to the region. The majority of the second fund's LPS are European and North American institutional investors. 

Ville says there is continuing excitement over the Nordics as an investment destination as more entrepreneurs are open to speaking to infra funds about their businesses and how they could grow them.