When Bridges Fund Management, the London-based sustainable and impact investor cofounded by Sir Ronald Cohen, wanted to expand its private equity platform into earlier stage deals, it decided against building a team on its own.
Instead, Bridges imported a ready-made, transatlantic climate investment team from HSBC Asset Management to help accelerate the transition to a more sustainable economy.
Led by Christophe Defert in London and Mike D’Aurizio in New York, the HSBC AM team has been investing together for more than a decade and brings with it an existing fund with investments in 11 companies to date. The team, rechristened Bridges Climate Transition Partners, plans to raise €200 million for a successor fund.
“Investing in innovative climate technologies is one of the most powerful ways to achieve positive impact at scale,” said CEO and cofounder Michele Giddens in announcing the move. “We’re delighted to be spinning in this proven, expert team to spearhead our effort.”
In the scramble for talent, “spinning in” a ready-made team can be a faster and more effective way to scale. Call it BYOT, or Bring Your Own Team.
That’s especially true for smaller specialist funds, like Bridges, which manages about $1 billion in assets. The trend could accelerate as the fierce competition and challenging economics drive consolidation in the field, Defert told ImpactAlpha.
“There are a lot of firms the size of Bridges out there, and particularly when it’s difficult to fundraise, I think you’re going to see consolidation in this space,” he says. “There are a lot of smaller independent funds in the US, more than Europe, even. It’s just a natural progression of these industries.”
In 2024, investment manager Redwheel brought on board a trio of energy transition specialists from EM Impact Capital to kickstart its private market Emerging Markets Impact Opportunities strategy. Last year, Capricorn Investment Group hired Mark Berryman and Nick Flores from multi-family office Caprock to boost its OCIO, or outsourced investment advisory, business.
It’s not just the small firms spinning in.
Asset management giant BlackRock in 2017 acquired First Reserve’s $3.7 billion energy infrastructure franchise and its global team of 37 investment professionals. That was just a warm up. In 2024, BlackRock acquired infrastructure specialist Global Infrastructure Partners for $12.5 billion, giving it an immediate foothold and expertise in the lucrative market for renewable energy and digital infrastructure. Across the pond, Schroders in 2022 took a majority stake in £6.8 billion Greencoat Capital, a European investor in large-scale renewable energy infrastructure.
At Bridges, Defert’s team will continue to seek out European and North American tech firms that are focused on the energy transition, sustainable manufacturing and climate resilience. Climate Transition Partners will make Series A and B investments of £5-10 million, downstream from Bridge’s Sustainable Growth strategy, which invests up to £20 million for growth stage companies and strategic acquisitions.
“I believe that we are going to a world where you have generalist investors and you have more specialist investors,” Defert said.
Strategic fit
Defert and D’Aurizio first started investing at Centrica, the parent of British Gas, before moving to HSBC Asset Management in 2021, where they were building a climate tech growth and venture strategy.
But as Defert told ImpactAlpha, the strategy, while successful, was never likely to be core to a global bank like HSBC. Following a strategic review led by a new CEO in 2024, the British bank decided to focus more on core activities like private credit.
“For a bank, it makes a lot more sense to be focused on things that banks do,” Defert said. “So it was always a matter of just finding a better place for us to be the best we can be.”
His team, which managed both HSBC’s own capital as well as client money, have now found a more natural long-term home at Bridges.
“Bridges is a private equity and impact specialist, and what we do is very much suited for specialist investors, rather than maybe large asset managers. And so it worked really well,” Defert said.
HSBC AM will remain involved with the existing fund as a limited partner, and is also committed to anchoring the new fund, which Defert said is targeting €200 million. While the previous fund was mainly backed by HSBC, family offices and corporates, Bridges expects to broaden the investor base of the new fund to institutional investors such as pension funds, insurers and investment managers.
The move gives HSBC continued exposure to climate growth equity without having to maintain an in-house specialist platform.
“Christophe, Mike and the team have built a strong platform with a differentiated approach and a solid foundation for growth,” said Joanna Munro, the head of alternatives at HSBC AM.
“Our ongoing relationship with Bridges will support the scaling of this strategy, while continuing to serve the interests of existing investors.”
