Ancala wins two awards at the IJInvestor Awards 2023

The IJ Investor Awards, now in its fifth year, celebrate the great and the good in infrastructure investments across the world. Every award is chosen by its expert independent panel of judges.

The Outstanding Individual of the Year award recognises one person who has made a significant impact in helping increase the deployment of capital by institutional investors in energy and infrastructure assets.

Spence Clunie was voted by the independent panel of judges with “more accolades than are usual for such an award”, according to IJInvestor. The judges lauded him for “great leadership”.

After identifying a gap in the market, Spence set up Ancala in 2010 through sheer ambition and determination, with no existing portfolio or seed investor. His vision was to put in place a strategy that delivered infrastructure investment differently. This strategy focuses on sourcing bilateral investment opportunities, providing industry-leading downside protection, inflation-linkage and cash yield, and actively managing portfolio companies to create value.

The strategy that Spence set out in 2010 has been pivotal to creating a leading infrastructure manager which continues to perform in a challenging market. Ancala now has AUM of over €4bn and a diverse portfolio of 18 companies which operate across Energy Transition and Renewables, Transport, Circular Economy, Utilities, Energy and Social.

In the past year alone, Ancala has raised a £551m Growth Fund, completed six investments across Funds II and III with a total enterprise value of over €700m, increased headcount by more than 20% and successfully raised substantial capital for the manager’s third flagship fund. The award is testament to Spence’s vision and success in setting up Ancala from scratch.

One judge noted: “This is a great example of starting a fund from scratch, achieving success by way of proactive management of assets and a high IRR. Based on scale of activity in 2022, it seems that Ancala is stepping up the scale further and should remain a very credible infra fund.”

The Market Innovation award, which Ancala won for the Growth Fund, recognises the use of innovation and novel approaches to overcome challenges related to fundraising and investment strategies. The £551m Growth Fund raised additional equity funding for three of Ancala’s existing assets to capitalise on major growth opportunities.

• Leading water company Portsmouth Water is constructing the UK’s first major reservoir since the 1980s. This will enhance the UK’s water resilience and significantly increase the size of the business
• Biogen, a leading biogas platform, is delivering an acquisitive growth strategy in a highly fragmented market. It is converting existing plants to gas to grid, injecting green gas directly into the national grid network to decarbonise this system
• Leep Utilities owns and operates last-mile utility networks across the UK. The new capital allows it to continue to build out its pipeline and further invest in decarbonised heating initiatives

These three companies are resolving some of the UK’s most pressing challenges, including accelerating the energy transition and ensuring the UK has a clean, secure and resilient water supply.

A judge commented: “The approach by Ancala to establish, in effect, a continuation fund is innovative as it focuses entirely on assets that require significant new capital for growth and value creation.”

The new fund (Ancala Essential Growth Infrastructure Fund) was oversubscribed. It contains commitments from a diverse range of institutional investors from Europe, North America and Asia. The fundraising – during a notoriously slow market – is testament to our differentiated strategy and the quality of the assets.

The Ancala team is delighted to celebrate winning two leading industry awards. You can read more about the IJInvestor 2023 awards, here: https://www.ijglobal.com/articles/177100/ijinvestor-awards-2023-the-london-winners