CapMan and CAERUS enter the European infrastructure debt market
Strategic growth step
CapMan together with CAERUS expands its Real Asset Debt investment area into infrastructure debt. The Nordic private asset manager established Real Asset Debt with the acquisition of the majority of CAERUS Debt Investments in June 2025.
The new infrastructure debt strategy will be led by René Kassis, who brings more than 30 years of experience in building and developing infrastructure debt strategies. During his career, Kassis has established a European real estate and infrastructure debt platform exceeding €6 billion in assets under management for the international investment manager LBP AM and previously developed Dexia’s infrastructure business into one of the three largest infrastructure banks worldwide.
With this step, CapMan and CAERUS are entering a rapidly growing market segment. Recent market reports project a significant increase in financing demand for European infrastructure investments that strengthen the resilience, sovereignty and transition towards a low carbon economy across Europe. At the same time, CapMan and CAERUS are strengthening their Western European presence through the opening of an office in Paris led by Kassis.
“I’m proud to welcome René Kassis to CapMan. By combining his sector expertise with CapMan’s more than 35 years’ experience of investing in the mid-market we will be able to address an underserved, attractive market within infrastructure debt,” says Pia Kåll, CEO of CapMan. CapMan is a real asset focused private market expert that invests in real estate, infrastructure, natural capital and unlisted companies mainly across the Nordic region. Its clients are primarily institutional investors, as well as family offices. CapMan currently manages assets totalling €7.2 billion and aims to increase this figure to €10 billion.
“The expansion of our business into infrastructure debt and the associated regional growth with the opening of our Paris office represent a significant step forward for our company and for the group,” comments Michael Morgenroth, Managing Partner of CapMan Real Asset Debt and CEO of CAERUS. “We are witnessing very quickly how productive the partnership with CapMan has become.” CAERUS Debt Investments is among the pioneers in the real estate debt market in Germany and finances real estate projects and transactions across continental Europe and the Nordic countries. In the future, the firm will also finance infrastructure projects. In 2025, CapMan acquired a 51 percent stake in CAERUS.
“Infrastructure investments are a rapidly expanding market, driven by the need to transition towards a low-carbon and digital economy, and also enhance Europe’s strategic resilience. CapMan and CAERUS are the ideal partners to help investors seize these opportunities, especially in the mid-market segment, and I am thrilled to join them for this new challenge,” says René Kassis.
According to Preqin, infrastructure is now the second-largest asset class in the European capital market. Boston Consulting Group estimates that Europe will require around €12 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2040. This significant demand is driven by several factors: the need to refurbish aging infrastructure, the modernisation of critical infrastructure in response to geopolitical developments, the transformation of energy infrastructure, and the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure.
