Listen to the audio version of the article
The global race for funds that invest in infrastructure has begun, a sector considered among the most promising in the coming decades. After exceeding 1.2 trillion dollars in 2023, the collection of infrastructure funds has grown further in recent weeks with the launch of new funds by the big names in the sector: the announcement was made a few days ago that the private equity fund Australian Macquarie, world leader in the sector by assets under management, raised 8 billion euros for a new European infrastructure fund, while only a few weeks earlier the Canadian rival Brookfield Asset Management, in second place in the global sector ranking, had raised 30 billion dollars. The largest, among the five already launched.
«The infrastructure sector is and will be a protagonist, being closely interconnected with some of the most important challenges of our times: just think of the digital economy, the transformation linked to AI, the energy transition and the circular economy, the electrification of transport and the rethinking of supply chains”, is the comment of Alessandro Cannarsi, private equity partner and head of EMEA digital infrastructure at Bain & Company. Indispensable investments which to a significant extent will be carried out by the States through plans already approved or to be decided in the coming years but, thanks to the increase in public debts in the Covid era, with ample room for intervention for private capital.
The revolution
The infrastructure sector is undergoing a real “revolution” according to Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, so much so that in recent days the largest asset manager in the world has decided to tighten the times and “climb” the ranking of funds infrastructural. Not by launching a new fund, but by buying the third global player in the sector for 12.5 billion dollars (its largest acquisition in the last 15 years): Global Infrastructure Partners (Gip), also known in Italy for its share in Italo trains. If the clamor (and value) of BlackRock’s maxi-acquisition represents a shock for the entire infrastructure fund sector, it must be said that in recent months other private equity big names have already been shopping for infrastructure funds. This is the case of General Atlantic, which purchased Actis in the UK, and of the CVC fund which took over the Dutch Dif.
According to analysts, it is possible that in the coming months the sector will see other acquisitions by asset managers or private equity which, after the strengthening of BlackRock, will try the “short route” of shopping to grow in a sector in which the critical mass and ‘expertise are relevant factors.
Anglo-Saxon rule
But who manages these funds dedicated to infrastructure investments? As in the traditional asset management sector, Anglo-Saxon finance also dominates in the infrastructure fund management sector. Scrolling through the list of the top 100, apart from various French groups (including Ardian, also known in Italy) the European players are nowhere to be found. And Italy can only count on F2i Sgr which, despite boasting a respectable 33rd place globally, for now practically only invests in our country where it competes with large foreign operators.