New fund to back decarbonisation solutions

A new €250 million ($275 million) fund will tackle decarbonisation through a number of avenues, including real estate.

Alternative investment manager Azora is set to launch the Azora European Climate Solutions Fund, which will provide growth capital to lower mid-market businesses based in Europe which provide decarbonisation solutions for the real economy. 

The strategy has three key themes: urban solutions, energy solutions and sustainable agriculture. Azora is targeting €250 million of capital commitments to be invested across 10-12 portfolio companies, with average ticket sizes ranging between €10-40 million.

As well as using its own platform to source investments, Azora will also leverage the services of CBRE’s European platform to expand its pipeline identification and value creation capabilities.

The new fund is labelled as an Article 9 fund under the SFDR classification and thus will have specific decarbonisation targets and reporting obligations. 

Santiago Olivares, managing partner of Azora’s energy, infrastructure and sustainability practice, said: "The fight against climate change has created a historic investment opportunity to provide capital for companies which provide a solution towards decarbonising the real economy. 

“With the launch of this strategy, we want to provide our investors with the opportunity to benefit from a strong and secular tailwind and believe our strategy offers a compelling proposition given our intention is to boost the growth of these businesses through both Azora’s and CBRE’s portfolio.”