Nuveen enhances real assets platform with acquisition of renewable energy specialist Glennmont Partners

Nuveen, a leading global investment manager with over $1 trillion of assets under management, has acquired Glennmont Partners, one of Europe’s largest renewable energy fund managers, to meet increasing global demand for environmentally responsible investments that also aim to provide alternative sources of attractive returns. 

The acquisition enhances Nuveen’s existing private infrastructure platform, which will now comprise over $6 billion across renewable energy, digital, telecoms, transportation and social infrastructure sectors globally and has delivered consistent investment performance for more than 10 years for the firm and its parent, TIAA. 

“Glennmont has a proven track record of investment excellence in one of the most dynamic and fastest growing infrastructure sectors,” said Nuveen CEO Jose Minaya. “The Glennmont team also shares our values and our unwavering commitment to helping investors meet their long-term goals.” 

Glennmont is singularly focused on clean energy infrastructure. Since its founding in 2008 by Joost Bergsma, Francesco Cacciabue, Peter Dickson and Scott Lawrence, the firm has provided attractive, risk-managed returns to a range of global institutions including pension funds, insurers, banks and wealth and asset managers across Europe. In 2019, Glennmont successfully raised over $1 billion for its third private fund, the largest amount ever raised for a dedicated European-focused clean energy fund at the time. Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) considerations are fundamental to Glenmont’s investment process, further aligning it with Nuveen’s 50-year heritage of responsible investing. 

“My co-founders and I are delighted to be entering into this agreement with Nuveen, where we can continue our growth and deliver strong performance for investors from assets across new geographies in the US and Asia, while maintaining our focus on investments in Europe, which remains a key market for us,” says Joost Bergsma, Managing Partner and CEO of Glennmont Partners. “This acquisition will also enable Glennmont to better support the global decarbonisation agenda and help lead the clean energy transition.”

As Nuveen’s investment centre for clean energy infrastructure, Glennmont will be Nuveen’s investment centre for clean energy infrastructure and will be integrated within Nuveen’s Real Assets platform, which also serves TIAA, while retaining its independent and proven investment process. 

The acquisition aims to accelerate Glennmont’s growth in 2021 with a suite of new products backed by seed capital from Nuveen and TIAA that will target investment opportunities in European, U.S. and Asian markets across the equity and credit space. The acquisition takes Nuveen’s private real assets AUM to over $150bn, further diversifying the platform offering, which includes real estate, farmland, infrastructure, timberland, agribusiness, and commodities.  The platform is grounded by a long-term and sustainable investment philosophy that seeks to offer investors access to alpha-driven strategies that are deployed through a responsible investing lens.

About Glennmont Partners 

Glennmont Partners is one of Europe’s largest fund managers focusing exclusively on investment in clean energy infrastructure having managed over $2bn worth of assets. It raises long-term capital to invest in alternative power generation projects, such as on- and off-shore wind farms, biomass power stations, solar parks and small-scale hydro power plants. Its carefully selected, risk managed investments have delivered sustained performance and predictable returns over periods of 10 years or more. Glennmont has invested in over 2GW of mixed renewable energy generation offering investors a balance of yield and return. Based in London, the founding partners have been working together since 2007, establishing a reputation for making intelligent, long-term investments that deliver absolute returns.

Glennmont Partners is a trading name of Clean Energy Partners LLP and Glennmont Asset Management Limited, both of which are authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.