Infrastructure investing has seen a remarkable development in the past 20 years. Low volatility and stable cash flows have made infrastructure the place to be for many investors. This raises two questions: Can infrastructure investments deliver what they promise? And as traditional infrastructure is changing fast, how can investors adapt?

The short answers are: Overall, many infrastructure investments do deliver, at least so far, but experiences can be mixed and — at times — rather volatile. Looking forward, many new opportunities are emerging, but managing infrastructure assets will become more challenging, more costly and perhaps even more political.

History

It is worth looking back for a moment. Since the start of the millennium, investors have had to deal with major changes: several financial crises, extreme monetary policies and the return to more aggressive geopolitics. Investors responded by beginning to adopt more alternative asset a