Quaero Capital

Quaero Capital

Quaero Capital launched in 2005 as an alternative investment manager focused initially on selecting external hedge funds for institutional clients. Marc Craquelin, the executive chairman, and Stephen Daniels, the CEO, later pivoted the firm toward direct and co-investment infrastructure strategies — a shift that reshaped its capital base and its reputation with European pension funds and insurers. The infrastructure platform, branded Quaero Infrastructure, pursues core and core-plus brownfield assets in transport, regulated utilities, renewable energy and social infrastructure. Deal flow concentrates on Western Europe, with executed transactions in France, the Nordics, Spain and the United Kingdom. The team typically targets mid-market assets requiring EUR 20–80 million of equity, often using club-deal structures that bring one or two institutional co-investors alongside the fund. Notable commitments have included district heating networks, rolling stock leasing, and regulated water utilities — asset types where cash flows link to inflation-indexed concessions or availability-based regimes. The firm operates from Geneva with additional offices in Paris, Luxembourg and London. Adjacent to the infrastructure business, Quaero runs a cross-asset alternative-credit vehicle and maintains a legacy fund-of-hedge-funds mandate that it has been progressively winding down in favor of direct strategies. In June 2022, the firm closed the Quaero European Infrastructure Fund II with capital commitments above its initial target, reinforcing the shift to an owner-operator model for infrastructure. The investment committee retains final sign-off on every deal, which keeps the decision chain short and concentrated in the senior partner group. Quaero's regulatory perimeter spans three European jurisdictions, with the French Autorité des marchés financiers serving as lead supervisor under the AIFMD passport. This multi-jurisdiction structure creates a compliance burden that smaller peers avoid, but it also lets the firm raise capital natively in France, Luxembourg and the UK without relying heavily on placement agents — a structural detail that lowers client-acquisition costs and aligns the distribution function directly with the portfolio managers.