RGreen Invest initially built its energy transition strategy largely around debt, before moving further into equity from around 2016 as renewables became more competitive and less exposed to subsidy risk. Now the balance is shifting again.

The Paris-based manager, which was set up in 2010 and has some EUR 2.9bn of assets under management across equity and debt strategies, expects debt to account for 60% to 70% of its portfolio over the next two years, up from about half today, according to Nicolas Rochon, founder and chief executive. Debt has become more attractive to limited partners in the current market, he said.

A spokesperson for RGreen, whose minority shareholders includes Armen, a Paris-based investor in alternative asset managers, said the firm was seeing “increased demand for debt strategies”, driven by their “shorter duration, visibility on returns and current interest rate context”.

Debt also gives LPs a different way to back the build-out of renewables, storage and electrification infrastructure, with shorter duration and stronger downside protection than equity, according to Cedric Lacaze, managing partner at RGreen.

Investors looking to navigate the energy transition with “the right risk return profile” saw debt as “probably the most efficient” instrument in the current market, Lacaze said.

The increase also reflects RGreen’s fundraising cycle. RGreen’s fifth flagship equity strategy, InfraGreen V, closed at more than EUR 900m in March 2026 and is now being deployed. With that equity fundraising completed, the firm’s next fundraising focus is expected to move to debt, the spokesperson said.

Debt moves up the agenda

RGreen’s debt strategy is raising more capital for construction-stage energy transition assets. Its short-term senior debt strategy, INFRABRIDGE, provides financing for ready-to-build projects, including solar, wind and battery storage assets.

The latest fund, the 2024-vintage Infrabridge IV is expected to close at around EUR 500m, roughly twice the size of its predecessor, which closed at EUR 225m in June 2022.

RGreen did not disclose target returns for the strategy, although a spokesperson said the firm was targeting “attractive risk-adjusted returns”.

The spokesperson said RGreen seeks to earn a premium by lending to projects that are harder for traditional lenders to finance, including those with construction timing issues, structuring complexity or some exposure to power prices. The strategy is mainly designed to take construction risk, the spokesperson said.

Some deals can also include “development and merchant risk”, meaning exposure to project development or power prices, but only “within a controlled framework”, the spokesperson added.

Equity gets more selective

RGreen’s equity strategy is not being paused, but it is becoming more selective about where it invests and which business models it backs, according to a spokesperson for RGreen.

Some of RGreens Equity investments

Source: Infralogic

The firm has used its equity strategy in the past to back energy transition platforms across battery storage, EV charging, solar, wind and hybrid renewables predominantly in Europe, with some exposure to the Middle East and Africa.

A recent example is Renalfa Power Clusters, a new joint venture in Romania and Poland that combines renewable generation, storage and dispatch, with long-duration BESS as a core technology.

RGreen, through its InfraGreen equity funds, and Renalfa Solarpro Group agreed in March 2026 to commit EUR 200m in equity to the platform, which will finance an EUR 800m pipeline of large hybrid renewable energy assets.

Romania is not an OECD member, making the investment a less conventional move for a European infrastructure manager focused on European renewables.

The joint venture shows how RGreen’s equity strategy is changing, with the firm prioritising markets where power prices are higher and assets where storage and flexibility can help manage exposure to wholesale power prices.

It also reflects RGreen’s broader push into central and eastern Europe and Italy, where electricity prices are higher and decarbonisation needs remain significant.

“We really want to finance the construction of the new infrastructure in Poland or eastern Europe, or in Italy,” Rochon said.

Rochon said the firm had “never seen such opportunity” in European energy transition equity, but said the strongest returns were now in the right geographies and business models, rather than in traditional contracted renewables assets.

That marks a change from the low-rate era. Rochon said contracted solar and wind assets with low project returns could meet investors’ return targets when financing costs were cheaper.

Since rates rose in 2022, RGreen has become more willing to take exposure to wholesale power prices, particularly where batteries can be paired with generation.

“If you don’t have storage, it’s too risky to have a market exposure,” Rochon said.

RGreen is cautious on standalone solar and wind in lower-price power markets such as France and the Nordics, adding, if you invest in renewables there, “you will have a project return around four to 5%,” Rochon said.

But it is not avoiding those markets altogether. It still sees opportunities in storage, EV charging and other electrification assets, while the spokesperson said France and Finland were attractive for battery storage because of grid constraints and the need for flexibility.

That approach still requires investors to accept more revenue volatility than in fully contracted renewables assets. A spokesperson for RGreen said some investors remained hesitant toward assets partly exposed to wholesale power prices because many had been conditioned by a decade of falling interest rates and by equity funds that benefited from that backdrop.

RGreen declined to disclose detailed IRR figures, although a source said its equity strategies had “consistently delivered double-digit returns”.

Exits will test the strategy

RGreen’s exit plans are tied to specific fund lives and asset-level capital needs, rather than a broad sell-down of its equity portfolio.

A spokesperson for RGreen said the firm does “not anticipate a broad sell-down” of its equity portfolio. Its exit strategy remained “highly selective” and driven by fund maturities, asset maturity and market conditions, the spokesperson added.

The firm could also accelerate exits “on a case-by-case basis” where market conditions allow it to realise value earlier, the spokesperson said.

One such exit is already under way. Iberdrola has agreed to acquire a 40MW wind power plant in Basilicata, Italy, from Belenergia, the Schroders Capital-backed Italian renewables developer, and RGreen.

Rochon also cited NW Storm, the battery storage platform owned by NW Groupe, as an example of where RGreen could sell or remain invested alongside new shareholders. He said the company had appointed Nomura to manage a future capital increase to support its development plan beyond 2028.

Infralogic previously reported that several infrastructure investors had stepped away from the sale process for NW Groupe amid differences over valuation, with one source also citing concerns around merchant risk in BESS assets.

Macquarie Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management conducted due diligence on the business, while Ardian submitted a non-binding offer, but all three have since withdrawn from the process, the sources said.

The test will be whether RGreen can turn that thesis into exits. Debt may fit the current fundraising market, but the firm’s equity argument depends on buyers continuing to pay for assets that can manage volatility, including storage, biomethane and renewables in higher-price markets.