Insights

Economic infrastructure update Q3 2025

Explore the key Q3 developments across our economic infrastructure portfolio.

Author

Aberdeen Investments

Infrastructure graphic showing green circles and lines connecting

Duration: 8 Mins

Date: 20 de out. de 2025

“The third quarter of 2025 demonstrated strong operational momentum across our portfolio. We made notable progress in expanding rural high-speed internet access through Airband and advancing energy transition efforts in Finland. Our fully integrated sustainability approach is unlocking opportunities that align environmental impact with financial performance. With a successful strategy offsite and ongoing global investor engagement, we are confident that our investment approach –focused on diversified lower mid-market infrastructure – remains relevant and resilient in today’s evolving market landscape. We encourage you to read some of the thought pieces and reports that form part of this quarterly update.”

Dominic Helmsley, Head of Economic Infrastructure

Investment updates

Airband delivers further commercial progress

Over the quarter, Airband’s commercial growth had a significant step-up in installation activity, with over 1,000 new customers connected to the network each month – an historic record. The increase was driven by a mature marketing strategy and higher sales volumes that enabled efficient use of the installation workforce.

Furthermore, Airband successfully launched a new wireless product in August. This is capable of delivering one gigabit-per-second service over a long-distance. Airband is the first company to offer this kind of product on a meaningful scale, leveraging an existing estate of masts and its own in-house technical expertise. In September, Airband won the award for Wireless Innovation at the Connected Britain Awards 2025, the UK’s biggest digital economy event. The near-term focus for this area is to deploy the service and unlock up to 200,000 new potential premises that have no existing or planned fibre access.

“We are extremely pleased to provide such a positive update on the commercial performance of Airband, which operates in an industry that has faced more than its fair share of headwinds. The business is focused on delivering connectivity to the hardest-to-reach properties in the UK, which has played a fundamental role in our investment thesis. Airband is poised to capitalise on its defensive position in this regard. The new wireless opportunity adds to Airband’s future growth prospects, and it has the capability of bridging the connectivity gap in the most extreme rural areas within and outside of Airband’s existing footprint.”

Alex Anderson, Investment Director

Outokummun Energia: timely delivery of data centre waste heat for district heating customers

In our newsletter for the first quarter of 2025, we explained that Outokummun Energia (OKE) had signed a 10-year, fixed-price, heat-offtake contract with data centre developer E-heat. We are pleased to announce that this data centre is now online and generating emission-free heat. Already a fully renewable network, this goes one step further in supporting the energy transition and helps the business to reduce its need for combustion fuels by around 50%. It can also stop using its biomass boiler for four-to-six months a year, which reduces emissions by 350 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The server capacity of the data centre equals that of 480 sauna heaters – roughly the same capacity heater that can be found in every Finnish household.

“This project is extremely positive for the business as it combines a cheaper heat source, less need for capital expenditure and less combustion fuel. It exemplifies how Aberdeen Investments integrates sustainability into its commercial decisions, by combining financial and ESG key performance indicators.”

Maciej Tarasiuk, Head of Investments, Economic Infrastructure

Auris supports further decarbonisation of Finnish industry with biomethane production

Auris is planning a major clean energy initiative in Säkylä, Finland, with a €50 million investment in a new biogas plant that will support both the circular economy and the region’s sustainability goals. The plant will harness side streams from local agriculture and industry, transforming waste into valuable resources.

Once operational, the facility will process approximately 230,000 tonnes of raw materials annually, producing 130 gigawatt-hours of renewable biogas to serve industrial and transport needs. In addition to clean energy, the plant will generate recycled fertilisers to enrich local farmland, and biogenic carbon dioxide that supports e-fuel generation.

The project is expected to bring significant economic benefits to the Satakunta region, including hundreds of construction jobs and dozens of permanent positions. The investment decision is scheduled for Spring 2026, with production targeted to begin in 2028.

“The demand for renewable biogas is growing rapidly in the industrial and transport sectors. This project will strengthen Finland’s security of supply, promote carbon neutrality goals, and create sustainable growth in Satakunta.”

Anni Sarvaranta, CEO of Auris.

Sustainability

The team recently published its 2025 sustainability update. This year’s report marks 10 years of investing in essential infrastructure, with sustainability embedded in our strategy. The update highlights:

Our approach: reinforcing the role of sustainability factors in supporting risk management and creating value, which is integrated across the investment lifecycle.

Key themes:

Our focus remains clear: delivering long-term value by managing sustainability risks and capturing opportunities.

Read the full report here.

Leveraging our network

Cyber security in a changing world: Finnish cyber security forum

We are pleased to share a key engagement initiative undertaken across the Aberdeen Investments’ economic infrastructure funds. In June 2025, we hosted a cross-functional cyber security seminar in Finland. This brought together chief executives, technology leaders, and cyber experts from our portfolio companies, alongside senior advisers and industry specialists.

Summary:

This initiative reflects our commitment to proactive asset management and operational resilience. It also highlights our ability to leverage Aberdeen Investments’ broad network to support mid-cap companies in achieving best-in-class operations. This includes areas of common interest, such as cyber security, where collaboration and shared expertise can drive meaningful impact.

Events

IPEM

Aberdeen Investments was delighted to sponsor the IPEM conference in Paris on 24-26 September 2025. It was a pleasure to connect with investors and stakeholders as part of the event and to discuss the latest trends in the infrastructure market. The economic infrastructure team also hosted an investor breakfast briefing on the first morning of the event.

Nordic roundtables

In September, we also hosted two further investor roundtables in Stockholm and Helsinki on the topic of creating value in sustainable infrastructure. These drew on themes and case studies in our recent 2025 sustainability update report, which brought to life how commercial and sustainability goals can come together in our strategy. We’ve been delighted with the engagement in these events, and we plan to run more in other locations in the coming months.

Asia-Pacific trip

Dominic Helmsley (Head of Economic Infrastructure) and Maciej Tarasiuk (Head of Investments, Economic Infrastructure) were pleased to return to Korea and Japan for the first time in several years. They reconnected with investors and stakeholders across the region. Aberdeen Investments was proud to sponsor the PEI Seoul forum, where Dominic gave a keynote presentation on the value that small-cap infrastructure assets bring to the energy transition. Interest from Asia in European small- to mid-market infrastructure remains strong. It was a pleasure to share updates on our portfolio, highlight exciting initiatives currently underway, and outline our plans for the future.

Seoul Forum image showing Dominic presenting

Financial Investigator conference

On 22 September 2025, Maciej Tarasiuk, Head of Investments, presented at the Financial Investigator conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The presentation, Unlocking sustainable value: the role of infrastructure small-caps in energy transition, focused on how Aberdeen Investments’ lower mid-market infrastructure strategy contributes to addressing the energy transition challenge, while integrating financial, resilience, and ESG objectives.

Maciej also wrote an article for Financial Investigator, discussing how the lower mid-market offers an attractive entry point for infrastructure investing with lower competition, opportunities for active asset management, and potential for value growth at exit. The article can be found using the below link:

Read the full Financial Investigator article here.

100 Women in Finance event, 16 September 2025, London

Maciej Tarasiuk was honoured to join the panel on Building the future: infrastructure investment in a changing world, contributing to a dynamic discussion on the evolving landscape of global infrastructure. The 100 Women in Finance initiative champions diversity and innovation, with conversations shaping the future of investing.

Team offsite

In July, our team came together for the annual summer offsite. This was a valuable opportunity for the team to review our strategy, sharpen the focus for 2026 and beyond, and consider the future of infrastructure. The offsite also challenged the team’s artistic side by having to replicate Aberdeen Investments’ highland cow – ‘our spirit is our strength.’