AM One, the investment management arm of Mizuho Financial Group overseeing approximately $489 billion in assets, has initiated a formal search for a European partnership to expand its capabilities in private assets. The Japanese asset manager is targeting the private credit and infrastructure financing markets in Europe, two segments that have attracted substantial capital flows globally as investors have sought alternatives to traditional fixed income in the higher-rate environment.
Oleg Kapinos, AM One's London-based head of global distribution, is leading the effort. His location in the British capital positions the search process at the centre of Europe's private credit ecosystem, where a concentration of established alternative asset managers and fund structures has made London the primary hub for European private markets activity, notwithstanding ongoing post-Brexit questions about the long-term distribution landscape across the European Union.
PRIVATE CREDIT AND INFRASTRUCTURE IN FOCUS
The focus on private credit and infrastructure reflects two of the most rapidly growing segments within the broader alternative assets universe. Private credit, which encompasses direct lending to corporates, asset-backed lending, and distressed debt strategies among others, has expanded sharply as banks in Europe and North America pulled back from certain lending activities in response to tightened capital requirements. This contraction in bank balance sheet capacity created an opening for non-bank lenders, and asset managers with strong distribution capabilities have moved aggressively to fill it.
Infrastructure debt and equity present a different but complementary opportunity. Long-duration assets with contractual cash flows tied to essential services — including energy transition projects, digital infrastructure, and transport networks — have become attractive to insurance companies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds seeking assets that match the duration of their liabilities. An established European partner with existing origination relationships in this space could provide AM One with deal flow that would be difficult and time-consuming to build from scratch.
AM One's $489 billion in assets under management gives it meaningful scale for partnership conversations. Potential European partners in the private assets space would recognise the distribution power that comes with access to Mizuho's institutional client base across Japan, Asia and the United States, making the arrangement attractive from both sides. Japanese institutional investors, including life insurers and pension funds, have been among the largest allocators to European and North American alternative assets in recent years, seeking higher yields than available in domestic markets.
JAPANESE BANKS RACE TO SECURE OVERSEAS ASSET MANAGERS
Mizuho's move through AM One places it within a broader competitive dynamic among Japan's major banking groups, which have been actively pursuing overseas asset management acquisitions and partnerships to diversify revenue streams and respond to the structural challenges posed by domestic demographics and low returns. The trend has accelerated as the Bank of Japan's gradual exit from its ultra-loose monetary policy framework begins to shift the domestic asset management landscape, prompting institutions to lock in international growth options.
A European private assets partnership would also provide AM One with capabilities that align with the investment preferences of the sovereign wealth funds and large institutional allocators that the firm targets in its distribution strategy. These investors have progressively increased their allocations to illiquid alternatives, and offering access to co-investment or fund structures in European private credit and infrastructure would deepen AM One's relevance as a distribution counterpart.
AM One had not announced a specific shortlist of potential partners or a timeline for completing the process at the time of the announcement. The search is understood to be at an early stage, with Kapinos and his team assessing the European market to identify managers whose capabilities, investment philosophy and cultural approach to partnership align with what Mizuho and AM One are seeking to build for their institutional client base globally.