Data center capacity is expanding exponentially to support AI, yet the physical power grid is failing to keep pace. Discover how smart capital is solving the energy bottleneck and why "Core Plus" infrastructure offers the most resilient returns in a volatile market.

Maciej Tarasiuk, Head of Investment at Aberdeen, breaks down the mechanics of the European mid-market infrastructure landscape. He explains why "Core Plus" assets offer superior risk-adjusted returns compared to traditional large-cap deals and how Aberdeen navigates the collision of energy transition and digital infrastructure demands. Maciej also details how ESG integration is no longer just a compliance box, but a direct driver of short-term EBITDA growth.

Key Discussion Points:

• The Alpha in Mid-Market: Why deals between €50M-€150M face less competition and offer higher value-add potential.

• Core vs. Core Plus: Defining the risk-return profiles (9-11% vs. 11-15%) in today's interest rate environment.

• The Data Center Dilemma: How AI power consumption is forcing moratoriums on new builds and the search for sustainable solutions.

• Turning Waste into Profit: A case study on connecting data centers to district heating to cut costs by 25%.

• Big Tech as Utilities: Why Google and Meta might eventually divest their physical infrastructure assets.

About the Guest:Maciej Tarasiuk is the Head of Investment within the economic infrastructure team at Aberdeen, leading investments across a diverse portfolio of mid-cap infrastructure businesses throughout Europe including energy, transport, and digital connectivity.

About Aulium:Aulium is a video show dedicated to Innovation and Private Capital. Hosts Thomas Viguier and Markus Perkumas interview industry leaders to uncover the mechanics of European tech ecosystems, M&A strategies, and the future of investing.

Connect with us:

• Follow Aulium on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aulium

• Thomas Viguier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tviguier/

• Markus Perkumas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markusperkumas/

#privatecapital #innovation #Infrastructure #aulium #EnergyTransition

Are we witnessing a dangerous bubble in AI data center construction, similar to the 19th-century railway mania? Discover how institutional investors are distinguishing between hype and the genuine structural shifts of the "4 Ds."

In this episode, Thomas Viguier and Markus Perkumas sit down with Thibault Contat Desfontaines, Managing Director at UBS Infrastructure Private Equity. They dissect the rapidly blurring lines between Private Equity, Real Estate, and Infrastructure. Thibault breaks down the specific economics of data centers—from Hyperscalers to Enterprise Colocation—and explains how constraints on power grids and talent are acting as the real bottlenecks to the AI revolution.

Key Discussion Points:

• The "4 Ds" Framework: How Demographics, Decarbonization, Digitalization, and Deglobalization drive investment strategy.

• Data Center Economics: The difference between Hyperscalers, AI/HPC, and Enterprise Colocation models.

• The AI Energy Problem: Why power availability and grid connectivity are the ultimate limits to growth.

• Infra vs. PE: How value-add strategies are erasing the traditional boundaries of asset classes.

• Risk Management: Avoiding auction processes and identifying management teams that can deliver complex business plans.

About the Guest:Thibault Contat Desfontaines is a Managing Director in the Infrastructure Private Equity team at UBS Asset Management, with a career spanning investment banking at Morgan Stanley, Rothschild, and Nomura.

About Aulium:Aulium is a video show dedicated to Innovation and Private Capital. Hosts Thomas Viguier and Markus Perkumas interview industry leaders to uncover the mechanics of European tech ecosystems, M&A strategies, and the future of investing.

Connect with us:

• Follow Aulium on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aulium

• Thomas Viguier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tviguier/

• Markus Perkumas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markusperkumas/

#privatecapital #innovation #InfrastructureInvesting #aulium #DataCenters

Long term investors win when they respect macro risk, culture, and liquidity.

In this conversation, Thomas digs into how Jean-Baptiste thinks about capital deployment after two decades in private equity, from BC Partners CIO to his family office, board roles at Pershing Square and Howard Hughes, and now teaching at Sciences Po. 💡

He lays out his investor matrix in plain language: start with macro trends, never invest in what you do not truly understand, insist on durable competitive advantage, be obsessed with people and culture, and always buy optionality on both growth and exit. Simple to say, hard to practice.

The contrast between two deals says it all. Allflex, a boring sounding business tagging cows, became a global animal intelligence platform and a 1.5 billion capital gain. Pronovias, a bridalwear leader, showed how macro shocks, founder centric culture and liquidity constraints can turn a strong asset into a painful lesson. 📉

From there, the lens widens to the industry. Jean-Baptiste expects a tough vintage for private equity, consolidation among the 19,000 firms, and continued dominance for the giants who can scale into retail capital. At the same time, he is blunt on Europe, from shrinking capital markets to being absent in AI, and tells his own students that if they want to build ambitious companies, they should seriously consider going West. 🌍

Climate risk, energy constraints and AI mania all show up in his framework, but always through one question: what do the next ten years really look like for this business, its balance sheet, and its stakeholders?

"If you're not competing in AI, you're going to disappear economically."

#privateequity #investing #ai #europe #founders

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Hypergrowth is possible when you accept that sometimes the smartest move is to stop going solo.

In this aulium episode, Édouard Mandon joins Thomas to unpack how a finance role at Rocket Internet led him into payments, why he built Numeral in the first place, and how that journey ended in an acquisition by Mambu and a new life as VP of Payments.

He walks through the unseen plumbing behind every card tap and bank transfer, from SEPA rulebooks and ISO 20022 files to instant payments reshaping how banks operate 24-7. 💸
We get into why building your own payment stack inside a fintech is so tempting, why it often becomes a trap, and how Numeral positioned itself as the connective tissue between ambitious fintechs and heavyweight banks like BNP Paribas and Barclays.

Édouard also breaks down the reality of fundraising in late 2021, when Balderton preempted their round, and why that same company later chose a dual track: new capital on one side, a strategic acquisition on the other. 🚀

What really stands out is his honesty about tradeoffs. A three year old, 30 person, unprofitable infrastructure startup can only grow so fast in a regulated, slow moving market. Plug that same product into a 10 year old, 600 person, profitable platform like Mambu and suddenly price points, deal sizes, and customer profiles all change.

We finish on people and culture. How do you grieve your own brand, adapt to having a boss again, and still protect the DNA that made your company work in the first place? And what do you do differently in hiring when you know misalignment always shows up later. 🧠

"The only real growth hack for us was to stop being a three year old startup and become part of a ten year old company."

Building a great deal starts with understanding people, not just numbers.

In this aulium episode, Henrik Buehler sits down with host Thomas to talk about why emotions quietly drive B2B deals, search funds, and the future of European succession. 💼

Henrik walks through his path from Stifel in London to private equity, to Jacobs family office in Zurich, and finally to co founding H&B Mittelstandspartner. What looks like a neat CV is actually a story of stepping away from advisory comfort and choosing to own a single company, with all the risk that implies.

Together, Henrik and Thomas unpack how a traditional search fund really works in practice, why he chose the funded search route over self funded, and how two years of runway changes your risk profile and mindset. They get into the unglamorous reality of sourcing too databases, succession statistics from German chambers of commerce, and the grind of writing hundreds of highly targeted, sometimes slightly buggy, outreach emails.

A big part of the conversation is about trust. Henrik explains what makes a 65 year old founder choose him and his partner Don over a large private equity buyer with deeper pockets. It is not a higher multiple. It is the promise to preserve a culture, keep jobs in the town, and be the person who is actually in the building on Monday morning. 🤝

They also explore the delicate question of founding with a close friend. Henrik is blunt about co founder risk, how they formalized decision making between a CFO style and COO style role, and why hard feedback only works when ego is parked at the door. From co CEO models to clearly defined responsibilities, he shows how structure can protect both the company and the friendship.

If you are curious about search funds in Europe, Henrik shares numbers, geographies, and why Spain is years ahead thanks to its universities, while Germany is catching up fast. And if you are scanning for your own entrepreneurial-through-acquisition path, his take on what a "great business" really looks like recurring revenue, margins, and mission critical products is worth pausing on. 📈

"In the end, the M&A market is fundamentally driven by emotions."

Here’s a founder story that blends speed, scars, and systems. Thomas with co-host Markus digs in with Pavel Guzhikov—co-founder of Uzbekistan’s Uzum and now building Meadows—on how he thinks from day zero to PMF. 🚀

Pavel’s new bet, Meadows, is an insight engine for real-world decisions: councils, banks, businesses. It pulls raw signals from streets and shopfronts, then tells you what to build next—and why. Not hand-wavy AI, but sentiment, cohorts, and choices you can defend.

We get the playbook: trust your gut, but check the retention curves; empower people at the edge; move fast where incumbents move slow. Acquisition vs unit economics isn’t a binary—if retention is real, you can earn later. 🧠

On Uzum, the “why” wasn’t valuation—it was impact. First-mover e-commerce + fintech, TV-led trust, hammer goods to build habit, and zero-fee P2P to get money flowing. The unicorn label came after the country changed, not before. 🌍

There’s the cost, too: a near-collapse early in his career, then a rebuild grounded in dashboards, cohorts, and stepping back only when the team sees the problem before he does. And his take on AI? Useful, overhyped—invest with discipline, not delusion.

"Vision-driven, data-informed."

Join us as we dive into a thought-provoking conversation with Paul, a partner at AlbionVC, who shares his journey from investment banking to venture capital.

In this episode, Paul offers a bold perspective on the current state of the US tech industry and discusses the burgeoning potential of Europe's tech scene.

Discover insights into the dynamics of early-stage investments, the impact of AI on the software landscape, and what it takes to succeed in the competitive world of venture capital.