Infrastructure investment has historically fallen behind the needs of modern society. Roll forward to 2022 and it seems as though all the stars are aligned in it's favour.
To state that infrastructure is on the minds of professional investors, currently understates the momentum behind the asset class. Five (potential) crises have come together to push investment opportunities into the palms of potential new capital:
1. The Health Crisis - not just in terms of COVID, but the future demographic hospitals will face.
2. The Climate Crisis - which ironically now has a new catalyst stemming from the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the desire for (clean) energy independence.
3. The Supply Chain Crisis - driving de-globalisation and the re-homing of production and the need for a modern digital infrastructure.
4. The Pending Economic Crisis - whilst not here today, the fear of recession or stagflation is real. Fiscal stimulus directed at long overdue public infrastructure is perhaps old-school Keynesian, but a solution that may be fitting given today's macroeconomic backdrop.
5. The Investors Crisis - Whilst diversification and compounding are the free-lunches that benefit portfolios, inflation is the tax at the foot of the bill, that eats into real purchasing power. Finding ways to protect portfolios is a dilemma that could be solved by the predictable, potentially index linked income that infrastructure investments can generate.
The question is which opportunities and asset managers are worth considering?