For decades, artificial intelligence has been — at least according to popular media — poised to take over the world. And yet, it is only recently that AI has begun to infuse daily life. (It’s still not taking over the world. But it is affecting how data centers are designed and operated.)

That trend of infrastructure investment and alternative investing has bled into the arsenal of private wealth managers, who are increasingly looking at asset classes such as real estate, and now infrastructure.

Anish Butani, who heads bfinance’s infrastructure manager research, and Kathryn Saklatvala, senior director, head of investment content at the firm, recently held a question-and-answer session to discuss current challenges, the rapid evolution of the open-end fund landscape and Butani’s outlook for the sector.

Despite a fundraising dry spell, momentum seems to be turning positive within the infrastructure fundraising landscape, and certain global megatrends such as digitalization, decarbonization and deglobalization — also known as the “three Ds” — are driving multibillion-dollar investment opportunities.

How do you align the interests of a tax-exempt investor and a taxable investment manager? Bringing them together into the same room to let them network and engage in interesting conversations certainly isn’t the way.

Kali Persall, editor of Institutional Investing in Infrastructure (i3), interviewed Andrew Waranch, the founder, president and CEO of Spearmint Energy. Waranch has a 27-year career in the power space, with experience working for banks, utilities and hedge funds. His company, Spearmint Energy, is delivering one of the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the United States.