In this brief interview, Olivia Zitouni, CACEIS’ Group Head of PERES Coverage & Client Management, talks with Giacomo Rossi, Partner and Co-Founder of Vesper Infrastructure Partners, one of CACEIS’ newest clients. The discussion covers Giacomo’s background, Vesper Infrastructure Partners’ strategy & outlook, and touches on the decision to migrate investment servicing to CACEIS and the experience so far.
Olivia Zitouni: Could you walk us through your background and tell us about the story that led to the creation of Vesper?
Giacomo Rossi: I was born in New York City, raised in London with Italian heritage. I've always been fascinated and drawn to big projects and energy infrastructure, and the confluence with geopolitics and how these assets interact with society. Straight out of university I worked at Rothschild & Co. in the oil & gas corporate finance team working on a number of relevant global mandates, advising Majors, Independents and services companies. I had a 2-year stint at Perella Weinberg Partners pursuing a similar role, after which I had my formative years at Carlyle in the Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP) Fund I and Fund II, where I was actively involved in the origination, deployment and asset management of our portfolio companies.
Following Carlyle, I had the opportunity to be very actively involved in the origination and deployment of balance sheet capital at BP's gas and power trading desk where I was responsible for direct investment opportunities in the generation and storage space, as well as large, long-dated offtakes and deliveries. I was briefly CEO for the UK, Ireland and North Sea at SNAM, Europe's largest gas infrastructure company - where I was responsible for the establishment of our UK activities, origination, deployment and portfolio management activities.
It was during these last two years that I connected with my fellow partners and co-founders and made the decision to launch Vesper to address what we saw as a material white-space in the market - namely the European mid-market value-add infrastructure space. We recognised that we all had a shared ambition to pursue an entrepreneurial strategy, whilst leveraging our respective deep, rich experiences in various segments of the infrastructure and energy markets.
Olivia Zitouni: Can you tell us about your choice of CACEIS as Depositary Bank and what is the most important qualities you look for in a service provider?
Giacomo Rossi: From the initial pitch, we were very impressed by the team's credentials, their experience in the private assets space and the amount of attention they focussed on understanding our business strategy to propose bespoke solutions. Key aspects highlighted during the pitch were the streamlined communication framework we would enjoy with the private assets servicing team and the efficiency of the tools and processes that would be implemented to ensure top level servicing for Vesper and the fund. These essential points brought up in the pitch and subsequent meetings were central to our decision to select CACEIS, and today we are seeing this attention to detail and focus on client satisfaction clearly manifested in our day-to-day interactions.
We were also particularly impressed by CACEIS’ ability to perform an efficient and professional migration operation, which through careful planning and attention to the needs of all stakeholders, was carried out within tight timelines, without interruption to our business and in a very smooth and well-coordinated manner. Migrations are always a key concern in such decisions, but CACEIS’ experience in this domain and speed of execution was evident during the entire process and the positive outcome has validated our choice.
Clearly we are only at the initial stages of the partnership with CACEIS but from what we have seen in the professionalism of the pitch, the conduct of the team through the subsequent meetings and the efficient handling of the migration process, we believe we have made an excellent decision for our business. We are delighted to be working in close collaboration with CACEIS’ Private Assets team and the longer we work together, the better the CACEIS team understands our business needs and the better they can support our business development objectives.
Olivia Zitouni: What do you believe sets Vesper apart and makes it so successful? Could you please tell us more about your main achievements so far?
Giacomo Rossi: Vesper brings a compelling blend of deep investment and operational value-creation expertise across the European infrastructure and energy markets, tied with a focus on thematic investment in strategies that benefit from secular megatrends. Vesper's obsession with structural capital protection, married with value-add strategies has meant that we're able to originate investment opportunities and convert to portfolio companies in a targeted and consistent manner. Many of the investment opportunities have also been generated bilaterally and in off-market situations, thanks to our reputation in the space but also bottom-up origination strategy. Vesper is also fairly unique in being entirely independent, owned by the six founding partners, with no external shareholders or influence, meaning that the strategy can be pursued unencumbered from external influences. It also means that the six founding partners have material ‘skin in the game’ and alignment with the Fund's investors.
As for our main achievements, I would say our speed to market, focused approach to building the platform and executing our strategy by making high quality investments. Vesper Next Generation Infrastructure Fund I went from pre-marketing in March 2023 to first close in under 5 months, during the most difficult fundraising environment in many decades. Following this, the fund and Vesper have grown rapidly, with two investments in the portfolio (RAD-x and EAG Bionergy), signed an additional investment in early April 2025 (SAF Aerogroup), managing just under €600m in AuM, and with a full-fledged investment team spread between London, Milan and Hamburg.
