BlackRock Real Assets Appoints Valerie Speth to Join Asia Pacific Renewable Power Team
Expands renewable power investment capabilities in Southeast Asia.
BlackRock Real Assets has appointed Valerie Speth as a Managing Director for the firm’s APAC Renewable Power team, effective July 2021.
In her new role, Speth will lead investment and portfolio management efforts in Southeast Asian economies for BlackRock’s current flagship Global Renewable Power strategy and the Climate Finance Partnership (CFP) program in Asia. Speth will be based in Singapore for this newly-created post, reporting to Keith Mangan, BlackRock’s Head of APAC for the Renewable Power team.
David Giordano, BlackRock’s Global Head of Renewable Power, said, “Our clients increasingly demand more sustainable and private market investments on the journey to achieving net zero. We are delighted to welcome Valerie who brings deep industry expertise and insight in renewable power investments and operations. Rapid population growth, rising GDP and access to electricity throughout APAC are giving rise to greater demand for energy, thereby presenting us with unprecedented investment opportunities for our clients.”
Michael Dennis, BlackRock’s Head of Alternative Strategy & Capital Markets for APAC, said, “Alternatives investments are no longer the alternative in investor portfolios, and we have seen even stronger momentum in Asia Pacific. Valerie’s appointment strengthens local investment capabilities across our alternatives franchise in the region to better serve our clients.”
A qualified mechanical engineer, Speth has more than 15 years’ experience in renewable energy businesses in Europe and APAC, in the areas of strategy, M&A and operations. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was Regional Director Asia Pacific for juwi, a global expert in turnkey renewable power projects. Speth grew the portfolio to more than 1 gigawatts of wind and solar projects in seven APAC markets. Before relocating to APAC, she led corporate strategy and M&A at juwi in Germany, and worked at E.ON and Accenture, specializing in the energy sector. Ms Speth was placed in the “Top 40 under 40” in 2019 and 2020 by the Capital business magazine in Germany.
BlackRock’s Global Renewable Power platform has committed USD1 billion over the last five years to more than 60 projects and partner companies in APAC’s leading renewable markets of Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan on behalf of its clients as of July 12, 2021. To further widen its regional footprint, the Global Renewable Power team intends to invest over one-third of the US$4.8 billion raised for current strategy in climate infrastructure assets in APAC, and via CFP in climate-related infrastructure in emerging non-OECD* markets, across Southeast Asia as well as in Latin America and Africa.
BlackRock manages USD 297 billion in alternative investments and commitments on behalf of clients worldwide as of March 31, 2021 across a range of investment solutions in real estate, infrastructure, private equity, credit, hedge funds and alternative solutions.
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