The Infrastructure Investor Podcast

In this episode of the podcast, editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Marion Calcine, chief investment officer at Ardian Infrastructure.

We’ve been hearing a lot about investors’ newfound interest in Europe. Ardian raised one of the largest-ever Europe-focused funds last year, so we spend a good chunk of our discussion dissecting the European investment opportunity, what is attracting LPs to it and how the assets on offer differ from the North American market.

Given Calcine's role as CIO, we also delve into portfolio construction, what Ardian sees as essential infrastructure, why it feels comfortable factoring more growth into its business plans these days, and the role of technology in portfolio management.

Finally, we touch on AI infrastructure, how Ardian is approaching this huge investment opportunity, its thoughts on AI sovereignty and much more.

This episode is sponsored by Fengate Asset Management and Ridgewood Infrastructure

Mid‑market infrastructure has quietly become one of the sector’s strongest performers, generating a 10‑year median net return of 12.3 percent and emerging as a melting pot for themes ranging from the energy transition to digital infrastructure.

In this episode, Fengate Asset Management managing director Mac Bell and Ridgewood Infrastructure partner Sam Lissner unpack why the mid‑market continues to outperform, even as fundraising slows and macro uncertainty persists.

They explain how founder‑owned businesses, operational intensity and disciplined leverage can create a competitive advantage; where value creation is strongest across data centres, US water utilities and transportation assets; and why build‑to‑core and optimise‑to‑core strategies remain central to generating predictable, core‑ready cashflows. With political winds shifting and demand for power, logistics and essential services rising, Bell and Lissner outline how mid‑market investors are navigating the cycle and why differentiated exposures can still attract LP capital.

In this episode, Bruno Alves, Infrastructure Investor’s editor-in-chief, sits down with Americas editor Zak Bentley.

Together, they examine one of infrastructure’s fastest-growing areas: secondaries. The conversation focuses on the rise of continuation vehicles and GP-led transactions, which have evolved from a niche liquidity solution into an ever-more mainstream portfolio management tool. As infrastructure funds age and high-quality assets remain attractive for longer, managers and investors are increasingly turning to CVs to extend ownership and unlock additional growth opportunities.

The discussion explores why investor perceptions of CVs have shifted significantly in recent years, with many LPs now viewing them as a way to retain exposure to top-performing assets rather than simply facilitate exits. The conversation also focuses on how surging demand for digital infrastructure, particularly data centres and AI-related assets, is helping drive activity in the secondaries market.

From the growing sophistication of LPs to landmark transactions such as EQT's use of EdgeConneX as a platform for continued growth, this episode offers insights into how CVs are reshaping infrastructure investing.

This episode is sponsored by Taaleri Energia and Capalo AI

Battery storage is becoming a core pillar of European energy infrastructure. Capacity is expected to double by 2030 and grow eightfold by 2040. And while only 2 percent of solar today is co-located with storage, that should rise to 50 percent by the mid-2030s.

Unlike wind and solar, which earn less as markets grow more volatile, batteries earn more, making them a natural hedge within renewable-heavy portfolios and a stabiliser of fund-level returns. With multiple routes to revenue, success demands granular local market knowledge, precise renewables forecasting, and adaptive trading algorithms with tight feedback loops. That complexity only increases when batteries are co-located with wind and solar assets.

In this episode, Taaleri Energia investment director, battery storage, Ville Rimali and Capalo AI CEO Henri Taskinen unpack the investment case and operational demands of the asset class, where to find the strongest opportunities, and explain why it is so rapidly overtaking pumped hydro.

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Critical Load: Inside the Data Centre Boom lifts the lid on one of the hottest and most contested sectors in private markets. Combining insight from major investors, operators, legal and consulting experts and PEI Group’s own research team, we go inside (literally) to explore the key themes driving growth in the sector.

In this final episode of the four-part podcast miniseries, we dig into the hard numbers on investment performance and examine the sector’s future trajectory, with trends to watch including the AI shift, bridging power solutions and speculative but real early moves into the “final frontier”.