Schroders Capital, the $97.3bn private markets business of Schroders, today announces the appointment of Minal Patel as Global Head of Infrastructure.
In this newly-created role, Minal will lead Schroders Capital’s global infrastructure business and, alongside the wider senior team, set the global strategy.
Schroders Capital offers a diversified range of investment strategies across four key pillars; private equity, private debt and credit alternatives, real estate and infrastructure. The firm’s infrastructure pillar predominantly comprises its Schroders Greencoat business, which is one of the largest pureplay renewable and energy transition infrastructure managers globally with a presence in the UK, Europe, US and Asia.
Minal joined what was previously Greencoat Capital in 2019 as a partner and has most recently led the oversight of its private institutional funds, the structuring of new investment opportunities and the widening of investor relationships. Minal has 18 years of renewable energy investment experience across a broad range of technologies and project lifecycles. She started her renewable energy career as a project finance lender and advisoe, spending eight years with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and Royal Bank of Scotland. Prior to working at Greencoat Capital, she co-led the environmental infrastructure team at Foresight.
Schroders Greencoat celebrated a number of achievements over the last year, for example, the acquisition by funds it manages of the largest operational solar portfolio traded in the UK for a group of investors (including, in a landmark financing, five Local Government Pension Schemes) and being awarded contracts from the UK government for three hydrogen projects, amounting to almost a third of all capacity awarded in HAR1 . The breadth and depth of investment and asset management experience within the Schroders Greencoat team has been critical to these achievements.
The business has also expanded its product offering to address the growing demand for energy transition investment solutions from individual clients with the launch of semi-liquid and LTAF energy transition funds. Client interest in core renewables has also been demonstrated through mandate wins such as US state pension plans seeking opportunities in the European market.
Schroders completed the majority acquisition of Greencoat Capital – which was subsequently renamed Schroders Greencoat – in 2022.
Minal Patel, Global Head of Infrastructure, Schroders Capital, said: “I’m proud of the growth we have achieved so far; the 430 renewable assets owned by funds we manage today generate enough energy to power 3.6 million homes, equivalent to the demand of New York City.
“We find ourselves in a strong position as we look to the year ahead, we have supportive sector tailwinds, an uptick in returns and positive momentum with investors increasingly attracted to the renewables and energy transition space. This momentum was demonstrated in our recent Global Insights Investor Survey which showed that 45% of respondents are planning to increase allocations to renewable infrastructure equity in the next 12 months.
“Investors are now looking for higher returning investments and we are well positioned to deliver for our clients. We have evolved our business to look at opportunities across the spectrum of development, construction and operational assets and growth platforms across traditional renewables, as well as energy transition technologies.
“Core renewables have performed well and continue to play a big part of our offering, and we expect will remain so as investors continue to value investments with strong inflation exposure. We have been expanding into newer sectors such as district heating and green hydrogen, as well as looking at new demand drivers associated with AI and hyper-scalers which we feel will present really interesting opportunities.
“This is a pivotal time to be working in infrastructure and I’m excited to be part of a great team, leading in the financing of the energy transition.”
Georg Wunderlin, CEO, Schroders Capital, said: “Schroders Capital is a global private markets player with significant ambitions to build out our leading position in energy transition infrastructure. Minal’s appointment reflects the strong bench of entrepreneurial talent we have inside of our business. Under Minal’s leadership, the Schroders Greencoat team will continue to drive our successful expansion into new geographies, most recently into Asia, and energy transition subsectors that will deliver higher returns alongside new client segments such as defined contribution and wealth as we are aiming to become the go-to renewable infrastructure manager in the industry.”
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