BackAt the Infralogic Investors Forum Europe 2025 in London, Christophe Bonnat, Marguerite’s Head of ESG, joined the panel “New frontiers in infrastructure: Has value-add peaked?” to discuss how investors are navigating a shifting market – where risk, returns, and resilience increasingly go hand in hand.
The panel title suggested that value-add strategies may have peaked. Do you agree?
I wouldn’t say value-add has peaked – it’s matured.
What we’re seeing is a more thoughtful approach to risk and value creation. Elevated interest rates pushed investors toward higher-return strategies, and now, as rates normalise, there’s a recalibration. The focus is shifting from chasing yield to identifying intrinsic value – business fundamentals, sound governance, and the ability to manage complexity effectively.
At Marguerite, we prefer not to define ourselves as “core-plus” or “value-add.” We’re growth infrastructure investors – focused on building and expanding the essential assets that underpin a sustainable and resilient Europe. This leads to a diversified portfolio of investments with risk profiles that include build-to-core, core-plus and value-add.
What does “growth infrastructure” mean in practice?
It’s about funding real assets and tangible impact. We partner with experienced developers and operators to finance new or expanding infrastructure – whether that’s energy, digital, transport, or waste and water assets. These investments often have significant CAPEX requirements, and we combine the discipline of project finance with the entrepreneurial energy needed to build, grow and lead.
That means being hands-on, working bilaterally rather than in crowded auctions, and focusing on situations where we can create value by de-risking – not by paying big premiums upfront.
How do you approach risk and value creation in this market?
We specialise in identifying mispriced risk. In the mid-market, complexity often deters mainstream capital – and that’s where we thrive. For us, an investment that looks “value-add” on paper can actually have a core-plus risk profile if you understand the sector well enough and apply sound de-risking structures and action plans.
Our value creation comes more from building or expanding real assets, rather than financial engineering. We’re flexible on aspects such as revenue certainty and development exposure, but what’s non-negotiable is the connection to tangible infrastructure, strong governance and exit rights, and clear de-risking pathways.
Can you share examples of where this approach has delivered results?
City Green Light, Italy’s leading independent public lighting and smart city operator, is an excellent example that we sold just a few weeks ago. Over the span of our investment, the company more than doubled its market share. It expanded its service to include advanced smart city technologies, contributing to the country’s broader energy transition goals.
Another example is Fibre 31, an optic fibre network rolled out to approximately 280,000 households, public institutions and companies in France, that we sold in 2021.
In both cases, the real value came from combining technical understanding, disciplined structuring, and proactive engagement with management teams to reduce risk over time.
Which sectors are leading the “growth infrastructure” charge?
We see exciting opportunities in digital infrastructure, hybridisation of renewables, energy efficiency, and low-carbon transport. These are areas where Europe continues to need significant investment to meet its decarbonisation and resilience goals – and where capital can have a real impact. But the key is to stay selective, invest ahead of trends, and remain hands-on in managing our investments.
How are LPs responding to this evolving definition of value-add?
LPs aren’t pushing back on value-add – they’re pushing back on ambiguity. They want strong returns, but with project-finance discipline and governance structures that give them comfort. That’s precisely where Marguerite sits; combining infrastructure-investment rigour with the entrepreneurial energy needed to build new platforms.
Our investors value that balance – funding CAPEX and building tangible assets rather than acquiring platforms at a high premium. That combination of discipline, growth, and real-world impact is what today’s infrastructure LPs are really looking for.
So has value-add changed?
It’s evolved. Value-add used to be synonymous with higher risk. Now, it’s about understanding the risk associated with complexity – managing, structuring, de-risking, and turning it into sustainable value. The future of infrastructure lies at the intersection of growth and resilience.
At Marguerite, that’s what we call building tomorrow’s critical infrastructure.