UniSuper, an A$115 billion ($76 billion) Australian superannuation fund, has acquired a 5 percent indirect stake in Vantage Towers in an A$1 billion ($661 million) deal. This acquisition is UniSuper’s first direct unlisted infrastructure investment in Europe.

Mounting worries about the environment and global warming have challenged infrastructure discussions, along with the need to upgrade electronic communications networks to handle ever-increasing traffic on the international marvel known as the internet.

It’s no secret that investors have come out in force during the past two years, committing around $260 billion to private equity infrastructure funds, according to IREI’s infrastructure database. That largesse has come to a screeching stop in 2023.

It is a wee bit ironic that the term “sustainability” has become associated with a liberal political orientation, when the act of “sustaining” something is an essentially conservative one.

With the exception of first quarter 2009, the height of the financial crisis, 2023 saw the worst first quarter on record. During first quarter 2023, six funds raised an aggregate of only $4.2 billion.