AXA Private Equity, which has been raising the Axa Infrastructure Fund III since 2010, has raised 1.75 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for investments in European infrastructure.

The group's largest to date closed with €1.45 billion while investors committed a further 300 million euros for investments outside the fund.

Mathias Burghardt, Head of Infrastructure at AXA told Reuters, German investors became the largest backers of the latest fund while Asian clients had also provided more cash.

The fund will look for deals in the gas and electricity grid and renewable energy sectors, as well as road and rail assets, but will steer clear of ports because they are too cyclical, Burghardt said. Like its two predecessors, Fund III is also expected to focus on investments across France, Italy, Germany and the UK.

In April 2012, fundraising for AXA Private Equity's third infrastructure fund passed the €900 million mark after fundraising slowed down considerably after the French insurer announced that it was performing a strategic review of AXA Private Equity. In September, AXA had raised €1 billion.

In May 2012, AXA Private Equity's third infrastructure fund has agreed to acquire just under 24% of Luxembourg-based utility company Enovos for €330m by the end of June. The fund made its first investment in February 2012, when it acquired a 10 percent stake in Spanish oil storage and transportation firm Compania Logistica de Hidrocarburos.

The private equity arm has two prior infrastructure funds. The first was a €200 million vehicle formed specifically so that it could acquire a stake in SANEF, the French motorway operator. Its second fund closed on €1.1 billion.