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Strategic Advisor·Data Centers

Achal Arora

Managing Director – Digital Infrastructure Investments at Legal & General Group

London, England, UK

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Why they matter

As the MD building L&G's new €600m digital infrastructure fund, he controls fresh capital actively hunting data center, fibre and cloud deals in Europe.

Background

Achal Arora is Managing Director – Digital Infrastructure Investments at Legal & General Group in London, hired in 2025 to build and lead investment for L&G's newly launched Digital Infrastructure Fund (LDIF), which targets data centres, fibre, wireless connectivity and cloud infrastructure. He joined from Macquarie Asset Management, where he was a Managing Director on the European digital infrastructure team (2019–2024), and earlier spent 2015–2019 as a Vice President on Credit Suisse's Telecoms, Media & Technology coverage team.

Notable deals

  • 2025
    Hired by L&G to launch and lead its Digital Infrastructure Investments team as it stood up a new fund targeting data centres, fibre, wireless and cloud assets
  • 2025
    L&G Digital Infrastructure Fund (LDIF), the vehicle he leads investment for, reached its first close at roughly €600m (£520m) in commitments and co-investment capacity

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Managing Director – Digital Infrastructure Investments at Legal & General Group (London), appointed in 2025 to build out L&G's new digital infrastructure investing platform.
  • Joined from Macquarie Asset Management, where he was MD on the European digital infrastructure team (2019–2024).
  • Earlier spent 2015–2019 as VP on Credit Suisse's Telecoms, Media & Technology coverage team — banking background before moving into principal investing.

Current Focus

  • Deploying capital from L&G's Digital Infrastructure Fund (LDIF), which closed its first raise at ~€600m (£520m) in commitments plus co-investment capacity in September 2025, targeting data centres, fibre, wireless connectivity and cloud infrastructure across the UK and Europe.
  • Works alongside Matteo Colombo (Head of Digital Infrastructure Investments) and non-exec Jack Colbourne (ex-Arcus Infrastructure IC chair) on the investment committee.

What He Cares About

  • Proving out a brand-new platform quickly — track record and speed of deployment matter in this build phase.
  • Risk-adjusted entry points as digital infra valuations reset.
  • Institutional-grade governance (Article 8 Luxembourg fund structure, ~15% gross IRR target).

Recent Moves

  • Hired at L&G in 2025 specifically to lead sourcing and execution for LDIF.

Sensitivities

  • Very new in seat — may be cautious committing to specifics before the team and pipeline are fully built out.
  • Comes from a large-platform background (Macquarie); may probe hard on scalability and governance of smaller sponsors.

Questions to Ask

  1. What's LDIF's sweet spot on check size and ownership stake for colocation/data centre platforms right now?
  2. How is the team weighing hyperscaler-anchored vs. wholesale/edge data centre risk in the current fund?
  3. What did he look for in deals at Macquarie that he's now replicating (or avoiding) at L&G?

Outreach draft

Subject
Data center deal flow – quick intro call?
Hi Achal, Congrats on getting L&G's Digital Infrastructure Fund off the ground — building a €600m+ platform from scratch just as data center and fibre valuations reset is a great seat to be in. I lead deal sourcing at [Firm], and we're tracking several colocation and edge platforms in Europe that could fit LDIF's mandate, either as a co-investment or a later syndication. Would you be open to a 20-minute call in the next couple of weeks to compare notes on where you're seeing the best risk-adjusted entry points right now? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Your Name]

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