Analysis · Keynote Interview · June 2026

Building with an industrial mindset

Hands-on investing is essential in the digital infrastructure market, given the volatile macro environment and speed of technological change, says Asterion Industrial Partners' Sebastián Urbán Muñoz

Competition in the European digital infrastructure market has intensified significantly in the wake of the pandemic. But interesting opportunities continue to exist across the data centre, fibre and mobile infrastructure sectors. Nevertheless, increased operational complexity driven by rapid technology upgrade cycles means that deep sector expertise and a hands-on approach are only becoming more essential, explains Sebastián Urbán Muñoz, partner at Asterion Industrial Partners.

How have competitive dynamics evolved in the digital infrastructure space over recent years?

Since we launched Asterion back in 2018, digital infrastructure has gone from less than 5 percent of infrastructure flow to becoming a core allocation for most infrastructure investors. There's been profound change in a relatively short period of time. This has been driven by differentiated demand growth, coupled with the resilience that digital infrastructure has displayed through the various shocks that have characterised the past few years. In particular, during the pandemic it was digital that enabled the world to keep working. This really increased awareness of the relevance of the sector. The result is that competition has certainly intensified. Risk and valuation discipline, combined with deep sector expertise, are more important than ever. All in all, this is an incredibly interesting time to be investing in the digital infrastructure asset class.

How has operational and technical complexity changed and where do you see the greatest execution challenges today?

Operational complexity has increased massively, driven, in particular, by faster and faster technology upgrade cycles. Take data centres as an example. In three or four years, we've gone from powering and cooling 10MW to 20MW sites, with 15KW racks, to powering and now liquid cooling 100MW-plus sites with 100KW to 200KW racks. That completely changes the power procurement, engineering, operations and maintenance required. It essentially involves a complete re-engineering of the entire infrastructure process.

Mobile infrastructure has also undergone a transformation. We've gone from the traditional tower model with its passive components to intelligent, software-driven, active 5G mobile infrastructure. That too requires a far greater level of technical expertise. Hands-on management is therefore more critical than ever.

What does hands-on mean in practice in the context of the digital infrastructure sector?

We believe that as complexity increases, a hands-on, or industrial, approach to infrastructure investing has become a must for clients, as well as for our own investors. Critically, when I talk about an industrial approach, I'm referring to the entire life cycle of an investment, not just to asset management. It begins with the sourcing of transactions, where we proactively try to solve problems with new solutions and ideas. That extends to deal execution. We typically conduct a highly focused due diligence process led by our own team. We don't rely on third parties.

It's obviously extremely important in asset management as well. We're very hands-on in the way that we work alongside our management teams, supporting them in executing on value creation plans. We sometimes even place our team members into companies directly, in order to lead specific projects or help in the running of the business overall. Finally, an industrial approach remains important when it comes to exit. We're always thinking about how to position a business to meet the needs of industrial operators.

In short, our industrial ethos has a comprehensive impact across every stage of an investment. For example, we carved out a data centre platform a few years ago. At the start, there was no management team. In fact, there were no employees, just a bunch of assets and contracts.

It was important, therefore, that we were able to go in and lead the company during that initial phase when we hired the right people. That's the level of complexity that we're able to take on as a team.

"Risk and valuation discipline, combined with deep sector expertise, are more important than ever"

How do you view opportunities in European fibre?

There's no single European fibre market. There are different markets from a customer focus point of view – B2B, B2C, wholesale and hyperscalers all have very different business models.

The fibre opportunity also varies enormously by country, in terms of the level of maturity and regulatory context. In more mature European markets, it's all about operational efficiency, customer retention and cashflow optimisation. Less mature markets require a more hands-on approach to access the right type of customers and ensure an appropriate risk profile. It also requires patient capital because it takes time to build out a network. In public-private partnerships involving subsidies or other types of regulatory support, meanwhile, stakeholder management is paramount.

For example, we acquired an 80 percent stake in National Broadband Ireland (NBI) at the end of 2022. NBI is a major PPP responsible for delivering Ireland's National Broadband Plan. That deal was highly structured, with clearly defined milestones. It was a very different transaction to our investments in the more mature Spanish fibre market. Ultimately, deals need to be tailored to the type of business and to the market itself.

What is your view of the European data centre opportunity, and what does it take to build resilient, long-term platforms in this segment?

First of all, I would emphasise that we believe that demand is very strong. That's being driven by both continued cloud migration and high-density compute for AI, super computers and other use cases. At the same time, supply is constrained. Power is a major bottleneck, of course, but so too is permitting. Operational complexity also acts as a barrier to entry.

This combination of factors is creating a structural growth opportunity. The challenge, however, is turning that opportunity into a resilient platform with a true infrastructure risk profile, particularly given the more intense competition that we face today. There's inevitably going to be development risk with these platforms, because new infrastructure is being created and that risk needs to be managed.

We've recently structured a data centre investment in the Southern Europe market, for example. That transaction has a great combination of downside protection, via long-term contracts with blue chip clients, and value creation upside. Done right, these can be highly attractive investments, but achieving the right infrastructure risk profile is the biggest challenge.

As mobile infrastructure evolves along with 5G, where are the most relevant opportunities for infrastructure investors emerging?

The traditional tower model is great. But opportunities are scarce and competition is high, especially given the consolidation that's taken place across Europe over the past few years. We therefore see more interesting opportunities around 5G infrastructure, including fibre backhaul, private enterprise networks or rural shared networks. These are all areas that carry significant operational complexity and require deep operational expertise.

How do you see long-term demand taking shape as digitalisation and intelligence permeate more sectors?

We're living through a true revolution in digital technology. Interconnected intelligence is going to drive massive change across all sectors. We don't see this as a three- to five-year investment cycle, therefore, but more as a structural shift that's going to require ongoing infrastructure investment in both compute and transmission, at both the core and edge of networks as we know them today. Just think about the evolution of smart manufacturing, remote and personalised healthcare, new interfaces for digital interaction… We're only at the very beginning of this journey, and I think we'll undoubtedly see new types of infrastructure emerging. For us, we'll continue to explore those opportunities with an open mind.

"We don't see this as a three- to five-year investment cycle but more as a structural shift that's going to require ongoing infrastructure investment in both compute and transmission, at both the core and edge of networks"

As competition for digital infrastructure assets intensifies, how should investors position themselves to source and underwrite differentiated opportunities?

We believe that industrial and operational depth are required to source and add value in an increasingly complex space. Discipline around risk is also paramount. It's vital that investors focus on assets with true infrastructure characteristics.

Finally, we're increasingly seeing opportunities at the intersection of different sectors – digital and energy, for example, or digital and mobility. Having a best-in-class, cross-domain team that works as one, can be a massive advantage in those situations.

Which principles have showcased their worth regardless of market cycles or technological shifts?

Firstly, I would point to the importance of staying focused on the subsectors where you have real operational experience and a strong network, rather than deviating into new areas. Maintaining prudent leverage and strong downside risk protection has also proved critical to navigating through highly complex and unexpected environments. Over the past few years, we've experienced a pandemic, inflation, interest rate rises, energy shocks and geopolitical turmoil. Carefully managing the risk side of the equation has been key to our ability to deliver throughout all of that volatility.

Source: Infrastructure Investor, June 2026