There are currently 355 private equity infrastructure investment funds, launched between Jan. 1, 2000, and Sept. 1, 2017, currently raising money, according to the FundTracker database produced by Institutional Real Estate, Inc. Approximately 10 percent of these funds are open-end, so you would expect them to have long tails and remain open for decades. About 130 closed-end funds in the market have been launched since 2014, so those are still relatively healthy. But 193 additional closed-end funds — 54 percent of the total currently marketing funds — were launched prior to 2014.

By comparison, the average time in the market for funds closing in the past three years has been someplace around 17.5 months, give or take a couple of weeks. 2015 was an outlier, with funds reaching a final closing that year taking only 15.4 months, on average, to reach their market cap.

Although they might not have officially reached a final close, it is unlikely that those funds launched in 2013 or earlier are still actively raising capital. It seems a safe bet to assume that most of the funds taking more than 44 months to close simply are not resonating with investors. That means for all intents and purposes, there are 132 closed-end infrastructure funds actively seeking investment capital.

More than two-thirds of the funds launched since the beginning of 2014 are still seeking investments. Obviously, more funds launched in 2014 have closed than funds launched in 2017, but even going back to vintage 2014, half of those funds are still open. That figure increases each year, with 60 percent of 2015 vintage funds still marketing, 82 percent of 2016 funds still in the market, and 94 percent of 2017 funds still on offer.

The number of funds attempting to raise capital is spread relatively evenly among Europe, global and North American strategies, with 32 percent targeting Europe, 27 percent looking at capital globally, and 24 percent looking at North America. Nine percent of funds have a dedicated Asia Pacific strategy.

Targeted capital is not as evenly distributed. Forty-four percent of the capital being sought is for global strategies. Another 28 percent will be looking at North American investments. Europe is targeted by 21 percent of the capital being sought.

Sheila Hopkins is a freelance writer based in Myrtle Beach, S.C.