The senior leadership team of Blackstone’s new infrastructure business has been established with the hiring of two new senior industry sector heads.

Blackstone Infrastructure Partners (BIP) said it had hired Wallace Henderson as a senior managing director responsible for leading midstream infrastructure investments.

Henderson joins from EIG Global Energy Partners, where he was managing director and head of midstream and a member of the executive committee.

Sebastien Sherman has also joined BIP as a senior managing director responsible for leading the firm’s coverage of the utilities, renewables and transportation sectors.  

Sherman joins from OMERS Infrastructure, where he was head of the Americas, responsible for the origination, execution and oversight of large-scale infrastructure portfolio companies across North and South America.

Blackstone’s infrastructure arm was set up last year after the company announced it had raised $20bn (€16.3bn) from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia for a new infrastructure fund.

It is seeking to raise $40bn for its open-ended Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, to which PIF has pledged to match capital commitments up to $20bn.

As previously reported, the new infrastructure business will target transactions in the energy sector, listed infrastructure companies, and large projects that require the scale of capital the firm is looking mobilise.

Last year, BIP it hired Steve Bolze as senior managing director and head of portfolio operations and asset management. 

It also appointed Greg Blank, as senior managing director responsible for leading the group’s investments in communications infrastructure, Matthew Runkle as managing director and Phillip Solomond as managing director.

BIP said that, with the appointments of Henderson and Sherman, the senior leadership team is now in place.

Sean Klimczak, the global head of BIP, said: “Wallace and Sebastien are outstanding investors in their respective fields with demonstrated experience across BIP’s major infrastructure sub-sectors.”