MC EXCLUSIVE Blackstone targets Indian infrastructure and energy opportunities, scouts for investment talent

Blackstone’s interest in the Indian energy and infrastructure landscape comes as the country is aggressively pursuing its goals to build 500 gigawatt of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Private equity firm Blackstone is looking to ramp up its India strategy with energy and infrastructure investments, joining its North American peers KKR, Brookfield and General Atlantic as well as Canadian pension funds, which have significant investments in these sectors in the country.

Blackstone, the world’s largest alternatives investment manager with over $1 trillion worth of assets, is in the market to hire senior investment and operation professionals to build a team for infrastructure and energy investments in India, people aware of the development told Moneycontrol.

“They have approached several senior investment executives from other PE firms as well as people with experience of operating infra and energy assets in India,” one of the sources cited above said. Blackstone has already shortlisted one operating partner from a PE-backed renewable energy platform, the source said.

Infrastructure and energy will be the latest asset class for Blackstone, which is the biggest PE investor in the country with over $50 billion of assets under management. Its current investments in India include private equity and real estate.

A second source added that the search for executives is part of Blackstone’s plan to ramp up hiring in the Asia-Pacific region, where it has, so far, invested in Air Trunk, the largest data centre business in the Asia Pacific region.

It will invest in India through its global infrastructure and energy transition funds and, as of now, it appears unlikely that it will raise an Asia fund for such investments, the source said.

Blackstone declined to comment on Moneycontrol’s query regarding its infrastructure strategy in India.

The PE firm’s infrastructure business manages assets worth $60 billion, primarily in North America and Europe. The firm invests in energy transition infrastructure, transportation, digital infrastructure and water and waste infra among others.

Some of its investments include Applegreen, an EV charging infra company in the US, Ireland and the UK; Invenergy Renewables, the largest private renewables developer in the US; ASPI, the largest toll road network in Europe by traffic volume and the largest Italian toll road concession, spanning over 3,000 kilometres; Phoenix Tower International, a private player that operates more than 28,000 cell towers across the Americas and Europe; and QTS, one of the largest data centre providers in the US.  In Asia, the firm has invested in Air Trunk, the largest data center business in the region.

Indian infrastructure investment landscape

Blackstone’s interest in the Indian energy and infrastructure landscape comes as the country aggressively pursues its goal to build 500 gigawatt of installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.

These sectors have attracted billions of dollars in investment in recent years from global players such as KKR, Brookfield Actis as well as Canadian pension funds such as CPP Investments, CDPQ, British Columbia Investment Management Corp. Sovereign wealth funds such as Singapore’s GIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala, too, have invested in these segments.

KKR, which invests from its Asia-focused infrastructure fund, has set up several platforms for its infrastructure investments India such as Highways Infrastructure Trust, an InvIT which owns and operates toll roads; IndiGrid, an InvIT which owns transmission and renewable assets; Serentica Renewables, which focuses on energy transition and Hero Future Energies, a renewable energy producer.

Brookfield, one of the biggest global investors in Indian infrastructure, owns and operates several platforms, including gas pipelines, renewable energy projects and telecom towers.

It has invested in companies such as Avaada Group, which has presence across renewable energy, solar module manufacturing and green ammonia; CleanMax Enviro, which supplies renewable energy to industrial and commercial enterprises and Data Infrastructure Trust, which operates telecom towers.

In 2024, General Atlantic, too, jumped on to the bandwagon with the acquisition of Actis, which manages infrastructure and energy assets worth $25 billion, including roads and renewable projects.