After three consecutive quarters of positive returns, infrastructure equity ended the year 2021 strongly at an all-time high.

The infra300® index, which tracks a representative global sample of unlisted infrastructure equity investments worth more than $250 billion, breached the 9,000-level after rising 4.58 percent in fourth quarter (local currency returns). In the full year 2021, the index returned 12.93 percent, approximately one-third of which can be attributed to the growth in valuations. The higher expected cash flows were the main driver behind this growth, which more than offset the impact of the increased discount rates.

At the sector level, the transport sector (TICCS® – IC60) recovered the most and contributed almost 40 percent of the infra300 return in 2021. The infraGreen® index (consisting of wind and solar companies) returned 7.28 percent on the year (in local currency) bulk of which was due to the high cash yield.

Recovery was also visible i