The infrastructure arm of Japanese investment bank Daiwa Securities has acquired a 40% stake in Aquila Capital, the €9.5bn real asset manager.
Announcing the deal, Aquila Capital said it has entered into a partnership with Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure, to will enable Aquila Capital to further strengthen its position in Europe and “capture additional attractive investment opportunities for investors in the Asia-Pacific region”.
As part of the partnership, Daiwa Energy will buy the 40% stake in Aquila Capital for an undisclosed sum.
Both founding partners of Aquila Capital, Roman Rosslenbroich and Dieter Rentsch, will continue to lead Aquila Capital and hold the majority.
Rosslenbroich, CEO of Aquila Capital, said: “We will gain a long-term oriented partner who appreciates what we have achieved and wants to preserve the vibrant culture which defines Aquila Capital and help us to expand the business further.”
Rosslenbroich said Daiwa is a long-term oriented shareholder that “provides strong credentials as one of the leading, comprehensive financial service firms in Japan, while we will continue to operate as an investment-focused, independent business and further strengthen our leading market position.”
Daiwa Securities has been investing in renewable energies since 2012. In 2018, it established Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure in order to accelerate Daiwa’s investments in real asset investments and expand its investment targets to a wider area of industry.
Morimasa Matsuda, president of Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure, said: “Through the future collaboration, we will aim at accelerating our business in Europe, with a huge market opportunity in the renewable energy field, learning from the sophisticated power purchase agreement markets not depending on grants and public support from the respective government.
“In addition, we are seeing a growing global demand for sustainable real asset investments, particularly in Japan and Asia.”
