Picking up the awards for Infrastructure fund of the year and Renewables fund of the year is global infrastructure investor Actis for its Actis Energy 5 (AE5) Fund.

The fund is a $5 billion energy transition fund investing in power generation across growth markets, supported by Actis' energy and sustainability teams, and building renewable energy leaders across multiple regions. In the past year, AE5 transformed Orygen into Peru's second-largest power producer and a renewables leader in Peru in under two years; completed its investment into the renewable energy facility MTerra Solar, which combines 3.5GWp of solar with 4.5GWh of battery capacity; and took clean energy company Serena Energy private to scale the platform as a Latin America renewables leader.

In awarding the Infrastructure fund of the year, the judges said that they saw a very impressive fund with excellent integration of sustainability and rapid development of projects, together with decent scale, mostly in less developed markets. This, they said, had led to tangible, real-world impacts. They also praised the large platform for its innovative 'just transition' considerations and awareness of physical risks.

When looking at the firm for the Renewables fund of the year award, the judges said that Actis had achieved the highest score in this category due to its exceptional scale, complexity of execution, and breadth of demonstrated outcomes across multiple geographies. The submission, they said, provided unusually detailed evidence of operational delivery, decarbonisation outcomes, energy access, job creation, and Just Transition initiatives, supported by embedded sustainability teams and proprietary impact measurement.

Overall, it was felt that AE5 stood out for showing how renewables investment can drive system-level change in growth markets while managing risk and delivering value creation. They also praised the focus on the social impact of their projects and their intentions to extend community investment.