The Next Phase of Energy and Infrastructure Investing Requires Fit-For-Purpose Capital
Brian O’Connor joins S2G’s leadership team to strengthen our ability to deliver structured finance solutions for asset-backed businesses.
Five years ago, we began evolving S2G’s investment strategy to align with a clear shift we saw in the market: moving from an era of moderation into one of volatility. We believed that shifting geopolitics, the evolving price of money, climate pressure, aging infrastructure, and the rise of AI, robotics, and autonomy would reshape major sectors of the economy, especially energy and infrastructure.
The events of 2026 have only reinforced that view.
With AI increasing power demand, robotics and autonomy becoming more practical across industries, and geopolitical shifts straining global supply and pricing, energy security and affordability have become central economic questions. The same is true for transport and industrial infrastructure more broadly. For enterprises and consumers alike, affordability is becoming one of the defining constraints and opportunities of this next era.
At S2G, we believe the bridge between demand for a more modern energy and infrastructure system and the solutions capable of meeting that demand is not just technology. In many cases, the technology already exists. The real constraint is capital, specifically, capital that is structured appropriately for asset-oriented companies, emerging business models, and infrastructure solutions that do not fit neatly into conventional financing channels. That is the core insight behind our Special Opportunities strategy.
When we launched our Special Opportunities strategy, we saw a meaningful gap in the market. There were companies and projects with strong underlying assets, contracts, and cash flows, but financing needs that sat between venture capital and traditional large-cap infrastructure capital. In other words, what we often call the “Missing Middle.” We designed the Special Opportunities strategy to provide flexible, structured finance solutions that enable growth while protecting downside, using instruments such as senior secured debt, delayed-draw term loans, and structured equity.
What has become increasingly clear is that this gap in the market is large, underserved, and growing. In response, we’re scaling our platform to fully grasp this opportunity.
I’m thrilled to welcome Brian O’Connor to S2G as Managing Director and Co-Head of Special Opportunities, who will officially join the firm in May.
Brian brings more than two decades of experience across infrastructure and energy investing, most recently from Global Infrastructure Partners, where he led credit transactions across power, renewables, energy transition, and digital sectors. Previously, he spent 12 years at Ares Management, helping to build and lead a team focused on structured finance for the infrastructure sector, overseeing approximately $3 billion in transactions across senior debt, mezzanine, preferred equity, and common equity. His career also includes 9 years at EIG Global Energy Partners, where he invested in power generation through mezzanine, senior debt, and structured equity.
Brian’s experience matters on its own. But what makes his arrival especially important is how it connects to where this market is today, and where S2G is on its own journey.
Brian brings a strong track record. S2G brings an established thesis with early proof points. He is joining a strategy with real momentum, real pattern recognition, and real examples of what fit-for-purpose capital can unlock. That combination strengthens our ability to originate, structure, and scale investments that support 21st-century energy and infrastructure business models.
Brian’s arrival elevates our ability to underwrite complex industrial assets and expands our capacity to execute high-impact transactions. We believe the next generation of energy and infrastructure will be more distributed, productive, and responsive to a more volatile world. But building that future will require financing partners who understand how to structure capital around real assets, real constraints, and real customer needs.
Andrea Woodside, Marisa Sweeney and the broader Special Opportunities team have already begun building real proof points around the thesis, showing that disciplined, creative capital can help scale business models that deliver on affordability, productivity, and resilience.
With Nova Clean Energy, we backed a platform advancing early-stage wind, solar, and storage development in the United States. Nova is Bluestar Energy Capital’s North American renewable energy development platform, focused on developing and constructing utility-scale projects that support the long-term evolution of U.S. energy markets.
With Mitra EV, we backed a fleet electrification platform designed for the real-world needs of small and mid-sized operators. Mitra combines EV leasing, overnight charging, and access to shared fast-charging infrastructure in a single managed offering, and S2G’s investment thesis was grounded in the idea that electrification scales more durably when capital structure aligns with operating realities and risk.
And with Comfort Connect, we backed a model that turns a traditionally high upfront household expense into a more accessible service offering. Comfort Connect’s Premier Program bundles high-efficiency equipment, maintenance, service, and lease financing into a Home Comfort-as-a-Service model, and S2G has supported the business through both corporate equity and an SPV financing structure that funded home comfort systems off-balance sheet.
These are different companies serving different markets, but the underlying pattern is the same. Proven technologies and compelling customer value propositions often need a different kind of capital to scale.
We believe Brian’s arrival strengthens our ability to back the business model transition already underway across energy and infrastructure, and to do so with the kind of disciplined, flexible capital this moment demands.
I could not be more excited about what we are building, and about what comes next.
Welcome, Brian.
