Invest in the infrastructure of the future with Private Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the invisible backbone of our modern world. In the past, energy producers, utility companies, transport routes, power lines, ports, social infrastructure such as hospitals, and other public infrastructure facilities were predominantly funded by the state. For many years now, however, an increasing number of countries have been facing rising public debt and the associated growing interest burden, as well as demographic challenges. Furthermore, the fight against climate change and the acceleration of the digital transformation mean that existing infrastructure is overburdened or outdated in many places.

In its Global Infrastructure Outlook, the World Bank forecasts a global cumulative infrastructure investment shortfall of a staggering 11 trillion dollars between 2025 and 2040 (source: Global Infrastructure Outlook by GIHub, part of the World Bank Group, as of April 2026). Consequently, private investors are increasingly providing capital for urgently needed investments, which has led to private infrastructure emerging as an asset class over recent years.

The foundation of a functioning economy

Private infrastructure is characterised by long-lived assets, high barriers to market entry, and stable and often inflation-protected cash flows, and is broadly divided into the following sectors:

• Transport and logistics: roads, bridges, railways, ports, airports
• Energy and electricity: power grids, storage, renewable energy, charging infrastructure
• Digital infrastructure: Data centres, mobile phone masts, fibre-optic cables
• Social infrastructure: Hospitals, schools, care homes
• Water and waste: Water treatment, supply networks, waste management

The future requires significant investment

What are the characteristics of private infrastructure?

For investors seeking to build a resilient, long-term portfolio, private infrastructure can be a sensible addition to a diversified portfolio.

Low correlation with the broader economy

Infrastructure assets provide essential services that are in demand regardless of the global economic climate. People and businesses rely on transport infrastructure functioning, electricity flowing, water being treated and the digital world (the internet and related services) being accessible every single day. As a result, there is a low correlation between returns and those of other asset classes such as equities or bonds. Adding private infrastructure to a portfolio can therefore help reduce the volatility of a diversified portfolio.

Resilient and long-term focus

The economic success of infrastructure projects is based on co-ownership of real, tangible assets and long-term contracts that generate predictable revenue. Investments in the infrastructure sector typically face high barriers to entry, regulatory constraints and require significant capital. Through long-term off-take agreements (e.g. with network operators or governments), regulated tariffs or usage-based revenues, infrastructure investments can generate continuous and predictable cash flows.

Stability

Returns from infrastructure projects often have inflation-hedging properties. In many cases, there are inflation-indexed pricing arrangements or tariff models through which rising costs (such as those driven by inflation) can be passed on more directly to customers. Furthermore, essential infrastructure assets such as an electricity grid, a water supply facility or a toll road are subject to only a low risk of technological obsolescence.

The historical performance of private infrastructure investments has been characterised by stable returns, with returns proving particularly impressive over long investment horizons. The chart below compares private infrastructure returns over various time periods with those of other private markets asset classes.

 

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Our analyses and conclusions are general in nature and do not take into account the individual characteristics of our investors in terms of earnings, taxation, experience and knowledge, investment objective, financial position, capacity for loss, and risk tolerance. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of the future performance of a fund.

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