The sums keep piling up for Roland Doerig (pictured below) and Dominik Bollier, the duo at the helm of Zurich-based Energy Infrastructure Partners. EIP bought 49 percent of Munich-based renewable energy platform Baywa r.e. for 530 million euros ($629 million) in March.

On Tuesday, the fund house said it closed fundraising for its European infrastructure fund at more than 1 billion euros, from more than 40 institutional investors in Europe and Asia. EIP moved out of Credit Suisse last year and took up residence on Zurich's tony Paradeplatz – across the square from the Swiss bank's headquarters.

Swiss Pension Fund Money 

The seven-year-old boutique grew in size thanks to new assets from CSA, a 1.7 billion Swiss franc ($1.86 billion) asset group owned by Credit Suisse which invests Swiss pension fund money in energy infrastructure. On behalf of CSA, the fund, EIP is a sizable shareholder in the Swiss utility Alpiq and the high-voltage-network Swissgrid. 

EIP's partners are thinking of wider Europe, as Doerig told finews.com: the Finma-licensed investment manager is in the process of parlaying its Swiss investment expertise for direct infrastructure investments globally. 

Asia, U.S. Focus

Doerig and Bollier are thinking big for a new fund, targeted to Swiss and global institutional investors, with a 4 billion to 6 billion euro target volume. Its focus will be Europe and investment grade facilities in both North America and Asia-Pacific.

The fledgling boutique's success – not to mention prominent offices a stone's throw from upscale café and chocolate shop Spruengli – contrasts with Credit Suisse's problems in asset management. The bank is untangling a $10.1 billion line of funds co-managed with Greensill.

Besides a branch in fund hub Luxembourg, EIP has thus far managed its investments from Switzerland. The partners are deliberating hiring local know-how in Asia as well as in the U.S. as part of the global push.

Timely Emancipation

EIP was born in 2014 as a joint venture with Credit Suisse as the majority shareholder. The boutique cut itself loose at the end of last year – in other words, shortly before Greensill imploded for the Swiss bank.

«Without independence, it wouldn't be possible to fully exploit the market potential globally,» Doerig said in November when the spin-off was disclosed. It is now eyeing New York and Singapore as next stops and will house up to 50 employees in the Paradeplatz headquarters – soon being refurbished to EIP's specifications.