• Macquarie Strategic Opportunities Fund has agreed three deals so far

Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has raised some USD 800m for an infrastructure services focused fund, two sources familiar with the process said.

The mid-market vehicle, called Macquarie Strategic Opportunities Fund (MSOF) and led by MAM senior executives Hani Zogheib and Andrew Olinick, targets companies that provide services to infrastructure operators, said the sources.

The 10-year fund, which has also raised some USD 700m of coinvestment capital and targets deals in the US and Europe, is seeking altogether some USD 1.5bn and USD 2bn of core commitments.

MSOF, which targets net IRRs of around 20%, has signed three deals so far, including this month agreeing to buy Huntersville, North Carolina-headquartered SI Solutions, which checks the integrity of assets spanning nuclear, gas to petrochemicals and industrials.

Last November the fund acquired Potters Industries, a Pennsylvania-headquartered business operating in the Americas and Europe that uses so-called engineered glass beads used for retroreflective road markings.

The fund’s first investment in February last year was in Dallas-headquartered DynaGrid Holdings, which maintains, upgrades, and builds transmission and substation infrastructure.

The manager explored bidding via MSOF for Reway Group, an Italian listed company that does road maintenance and rehabilitation, before dropping it to focus on the Potter deal, said one of the sources. Luxembourg manager Renaissance AIFM acquired an 83% stake in Reway in July.

The fund looks at a broad range of services to infrastructure companies from design and procurement for power and energy assets through to vegetation management, said one source.

“LPs want to invest in infrastructure. MSOF offers diversification for LPs who wants to go further up the risk curve,” the source added.

MAM secured coinvestment capital including from UniSuper to help it acquire Potter, which it bought from investor TJC, and also for SI Solutions, which it bought from MidOcean Partners.

Hani Zogheib, who heads MAM’s private equity and adjacencies team in EMEA, has worked on numerous core infrastructure investments by the manager, including Arlanda Express, Bristol Airport and Thames Water.

Andrew Olinick joined MAM last year, having previously spent almost 15 years at 3i, including most recently as its head of business and technology services globally.

MAM declined to comment.