Investor sentiment for infrastructure equity is at record highs, according to UBS’ new report, Top trends in 2019: Infrastructure Outlook. This appetite from infrastructure investors is reflected in the volume of funds raised in 2018 of $89.5 billion, exceeding the previous fundraising record of $73.4 billion set in 2017. Transaction volumes in 2018 were slightly lower than 2017, with energy continuing to be the largest subsector. There was a notable increase in telecommunication transactions, however, from 5 percent in 2017 to 35 percent in 2018.
The report observed that the increased capital flowing into the infrastructure sector is causing a shift in investment style to more noncore strategies: Almost 50 percent of funds launched in 2018 and 2019 target a value-add strategy. It can sometimes be difficult to read through the real estate nomenclature of core, core-plus, value-add and opportunistic. It is perhaps easier to think about style in terms of the income a