Schroders Capital, the $97.3bn (€94bn) private markets business of Schroders, has appointed Minal Patel as global head of infrastructure.
In this newly created role, Patel will lead Schroders Capital’s global infrastructure business, primarily consisting of Schroders Greencoat, the rebranded renewable investor acquired as Greencoat Capital in 2022.
Patel joined Greencoat Capital in 2019 as a partner and most recently led the oversight of its private institutional funds, the structuring of new investment opportunities and the widening of investor relationships.
She started her renewable energy career as a project finance lender and advisor, spending eight years with Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and Royal Bank of Scotland. Prior to working at Greencoat, she co-led the environmental infrastructure team at Foresight.
Schroders Greencoat celebrated a number of achievements over the last year, including the £700m (€820m) acquisition of a UK solar portfolio from Toucan Energy.
The business has also expanded its product offering with the launch of a long-term asset fund (LTAF), which it says is the first to focus exclusively on renewable energy and energy-transition infrastructure, aimed at UK-defined contribution (DC) pension funds and charities.
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 3.6m 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.”
She added: “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 DC and wealth as we are aiming to become the go-to renewable infrastructure manager in the industry.”
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