ICG Infrastructure is planning to establish its first ever infrastructure debt investment strategy and has hired two experienced credit executives to lead it, according to three sources familiar with the plans.

The London-headquartered asset manager has hired Augustin Segard from Schroders in London and Grégoire Castres Saint Martin from Antin Infrastructure Partners in Paris to co-lead the new strategy, said the sources.

The pair is due to start at ICG later this year, while plans to hire more people to establish a broader team are also afoot, the sources said.

ICG is expected to raise funds focused on sub-investment grade infrastructure credit, reflecting stronger appetite for high-yield debt compared to senior debt in the broader market, sources added, although specific details of future funds are not known yet.

ICG declined to comment.

Segard resigned from Schroders this year after 11 years at the fund manager, where he was responsible in particular for the junior debt strategy, Infralogic reported in June, including the latest high-yield fund, the EUR 2bn JULIE III fund. Schroder’s infrastructure debt platform continues to be led by Jerome Neyroud.

Castres Saint Martin is set to leave Antin after eight years at the French fund manager, where he was most recently a managing director responsible for financing matters, primarily for Antin’s portfolio companies. Antin’s financing team includes senior partner Alban Lestiboudois and partner Aurélie Edus, according to the firm’s website.

The infrastructure debt platform would be ICG’s third dedicated infrastructure strategy, following its initial move into European infrastructure equity in 2018 and an expansion into Asia-Pacific in 2022. The firm today has around USD 6.2bn of infrastructure assets under management.

The European team, led by Guillaume d’Engremont in Paris, last year hit a EUR 3.15bn final close on its second infrastructure equity fund, which targets investments in the mid-market energy transition, digital, and mobility sectors.

The Asia-Pacific group, which is headed by Devarshi Das in Singapore, launched its first infrastructure equity fund last year, targeting USD 650m.

In a separate move to bolster its credit expertise, ICG earlier this year hired Mathieu Ortolé as principal in Paris from Rothschild. Ortolé joined as principal in charge of financing matters for ICG’s infrastructure equity funds, he wrote in a LinkedIn post at the end of July.

The fund manager likely sees infrastructure debt as a “natural extension” of its current equity platform, to provide LPs with risk-return diversification, said one of the sources. Its latest European equity fund targets a 12% net internal rate of return, while the APAC strategy’s net target is in the mid-teens, according to Infralogic data.

ICG is not alone in expanding into infrastructure debt after building up a track record in the equity space.

London-based Equitix is also in the process of launching its maiden debt strategy, targeting between GBP 300m and GBP 500m for its first fund, after a long run of equity funds. Similarly, Finnish asset manager CapMan earlier this year hired René Kassis in Paris to establish a European infrastructure debt strategy.

Before them, Madrid-based Qualitas Energy launched a credit strategy in 2024 after a string of equity funds focused on renewables.