Quinbrook is courting investors for the sale of a minority stake in the asset manager targeting energy infrastructure across the US, Australia, Ireland and the UK, two sources familiar with the situation said.

London-based Quinbrook, mainly owned by co-founders David Scaysbrook and Rory Quinlan, has engaged Evercore to advise on the process to bring in a minority strategic investor, the sources said. The potential sale is being managed out of Evercore’s New York office, they noted.

The potential sale is aimed at supporting the investment manager’s growth in its focus markets of the US, UK and Australia, said one of the sources, adding that the discussions are at an early stage.

Quinbrook declined to comment for the article, while Evercore did not respond to a query.

Set up in 2015, Quinbrook is a specialist investment manager focused on energy infrastructure and digital transitions. Over the past decade, it has invested in over 40 GW of energy infrastructure assets worth over USD 27bn, according to the investor.

Its investments include large scale renewable power generation, biofuels production, long duration energy storage, hyperscale data center infrastructure, AI powered asset optimisation, grid support and flexibility assets across North America, the UK, Ireland and Australia.

It has a global pipeline of 20 GW renewables, storage, flexibility and grid support projects.

Its portfolio in the US includes solar and storage companies Primergy and GlidePath and data centre platform Rowan Digital Infrastructure, which is co-owned with Blackstone. In Australia it owns a large-scale battery solutions project Supernode, biomass-based power plant Cape Byron and is also building a low-carbon solar and semiconductor supply chain project Northern Quartz Campus.

In the UK, Quinbrook is developing the Cleve Hill solar and storage project, solar power project Mallard Pass, and battery storage project Uskmouth in South Wales. It recently sold its UK flexible energy manager and developer Flexitricity to Drax for GBP 42m and is in the process of selling a gas peakers-based flexible energy business Velox Power and five synchronous condensers in Wales and Scotland.

Quinbrook last week announced a final close of its second UK and Ireland-focused fund Quinbrook Renewables Impact Fund (QRIF II), raising GBP 587m. QRIF I had raised GBP 620m of investor commitments in 2023.

On the global front, in 2024 Quinbrook closed its Net Zero Power Fund with commitments of USD 3bn. The fund focuses on large-scale solar and storage, infrastructure for hyperscale data centre, renewable fuels, synchronous condensers providing grid support and contracted battery storage across the UK, US, and Australia.

The second fund in the Net Zero strategy, to be known as Quinbrook III was launched last year.

Among other strategies from Quinbrook is the USD 600m Quinbrook Valley of Fire Fund, which invests in the US and is a continuation of the large-scale solar and storage strategy of Quinbrook’s Low Carbon Power Fund (LCPF), which held its final closing in 2019.

Founder-owned managers seeking to bring in outside investment has been a major theme in energy and infrastructure in recent years, with deals including Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank acquiring a 15% stake in Morrison and Benetton family holding Edizione backing Tages Capital.

[Editor’s Note: The article has been amended to clarify the names of certain Quinbrook Net Zero strategy funds.]