In all the excitement over European countries ramping up spending on defence in order to compensate for the US’s isolationism and Russian aggression, most investors and commentators overlooked one small but critical detail.

These spending plans aren’t just about defence, they include a commitment to making sure Europe has a resilient infrastructure, including energy independence, which means greater spending on renewables and energy storage.

This hasn’t been lost on large investors like hedge funds, private equity and sovereign wealth funds, and the recent takeovers of BBGI and Harmony Energy Income Trust (HEIT) are probably a sign of more deals to come.

Harmony’s non-executive chair Norman Crighton said the trust’s assets had attracted ‘a strong level of interest’ both from rival operators and private buyers, with power generation firm Drax (DRX) emerging victorious.

‘The European opportunities we are seeing now are more attractive and more interesting than they were just a few years ago,’ said Masoud Homayoun, head of global infrastructure at Swedish buyout giant EQT (EQT:STO), in a recent interview with the Financial Times.

The need – and indeed the desire – to support private investment in infrastructure across Europe is now stronger than at any point in the last decade, added Homayoun.

EQT has around €270 billion or £225 billion in assets and is already a major player in renewable energy worldwide.

Last week, the firm closed its sixth infrastructure fund after raising €21.5 billion, €1.5 billion more than it had planned, with 70% of commitments coming from existing clients.

The new fund has agreements or is in talks to invest in 12 companies mainly involved in decarbonising and decentralising energy generation and storage, including one of the largest providers of flexible generation in the form of large-scale batteries in the UK, according to the firm.

Meanwhile, US alternative investor Blackstone (BX:NYSE) recently acquired a stake in the owner of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports from PSP, a Canadian pension fund.

Blackstone’s infrastructure unit also owns stakes in Mundys, which operates 5,800 miles of toll motorways in France and Spain as well as Rome’s Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, and Signature Aviation, the Luton-based provider of airport services formerly known as BBA Aviation.

In 2024, Spanish group Ferrovial (FER:BME) agreed to sell the majority of its stake in Heathrow airport to private equity group Ardian and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, while Gatwick airport is co-owned by French group Vinci (DG:EPA) and an investor group managed by Global Infrastructure Partners, part of US investment powerhouse BlackRock (BLK:NYSE). 

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