2025 is poised to be a turning point for the infrastructure sector. A more favorable economic environment, a new administration, and an anticipated decline in interest rates, coupled with rising demand for new infrastructure such as data centers and power grids all suggest an increase in investment opportunities for the asset class. Our panel of top investors will discuss their views on the market and set the scene for the year ahead.

• A second Trump administration- what are the implications for infrastructure investments?
• What were some of the top deals in 2024 and where are the short- and medium-term opportunities for top sectors such as energy transition and digital infrastructure? Where do the challenges lie?
• Valuations- what are the current benchmarks?
• Is the infrastructure middle market currently providing the most compelling opportunities?

In 2024, the M&A market for power, energy and renewables rebounded from 2023, and the sector continues to be top of mind for infrastructure investors, particularly as the demand for data centers- and therefore power and renewable energy- persists. With the new presidency, however, investors are on a wait-and-see approach as to how renewable energy investments will be affected. Panellists will discuss: 

• How is the US energy matrix changing and where are investors finding conventional and renewable power opportunities, especially given the increase in oil and gas investments?
• Clean energy vs traditional - how will the geopolitical and regulatory environment impact investment opportunities?
• The convergence of digitalization and energy transition- what needs to be done to support rising energy remands for data centres and other large scale power users? Will this lead to an increase in energy transition investments and technologies?
• Trump 2.0- what will energy investments and government policies such as the IRA look like under the new administration? Is US LNG infrastructure set to expand?

Data center development and financing dominated US infrastructure in 2024, and demand for the sector is only expected to increase as cloud computing and AI expand. In particular, the convergence of data center growth and increased power generation demands serves as a compelling investment opportunity. Our panellists will discuss the success of the sector, state of the financing markets and more. 

• The growing data center and AI-driven infrastructure demand- where are the investment opportunities?
• How are power and data center development capabilities being integrated? Is the industry experiencing bottlenecks when it comes to power demands?
• Debt financing - asset-based securities, traditional project financing- what is the role of debt financing in data centres? How are these details being structured?
• Data center zoning laws - what has happened in the past 12 months and what are the repercussions?

Once seen as simply a safe asset class offering stability in times of uncertainty, the infrastructure fund space has been shifting and expanding, with traditional project financing being replaced by private equity style strategies, and managers taking a more nuanced approach to the asset class by pursuing newer infrastructure opportunities and different risk and return profiles. Our panellists will discuss the state of the market and what the increasingly blurred lines mean for the sector. 

• Why are infrastructure firms increasingly adopting a private equity approach towards acquisitions?
• How are infrastructure fund managers differentiating their offers as the market becomes more competitive?
• How are infrastructure GPs addressing PE-style operational challenges?
• How are LPs responding to the overlap between private equity and infrastructure?

After two years of post-COVID accelerated growth in the transportation sector, deal activity declined sharply in 2023 and picked up in 2024. 2025 should be a promising year for the sector as the industry continues to evolve and compelling investment opportunities emerge in light of the “3Ds”: decarbonisation, deglobalisation and digitalisation, particularly in the logistics and supply chain and energy transition space. Our panel of transportation and logistics experts will discuss: 

• How can transportation strategics and financial sponsors best tap into capital to pursue new opportunities?
• What implications do emerging technologies such as AI have on supply chains and logistics?
• The trend towards deglobalization: how are global events such as trade wars impacting the transportation and logistics sector?
• What are some updates in the energy transition space, including the electrification of trucks, fleets and hydrogen and carbon capture, and how can investors access these opportunities?

Whilst commercial banks have traditionally been a central source of funding for infrastructure project finance, private credit has increasingly emerged as an alternative financing source in the market. The rapidly evolving nature and risk profiles of infrastructure projects has meant that the asset class is facing increased project financing needs and is opening up opportunities to private credit, including asset-based financing for data centres, digital infrastructure projects and energy transition technologies. Our panel will discuss the opportunities the infrastructure credit space has to offer. 

• Private infrastructure credit vs traditional commercial bank lending - how is private credit bridging the infrastructure funding gap?
• What is driving the need for private credit infrastructure solutions, and is the trajectory expected to continue as the definition of infrastructure continues to expand?
• Will private credit funds compete with traditional bank lenders in the infrastructure space, or are there are opportunities for partnership to fund projects?
• What are the associated risks with private credit financing?

2025 is expected to bring recovery in the M&A market and better exit and fundraising opportunities. LPs continue to seek infrastructure exposure, drawn by the asset class’s inflation-resistant returns — and it is expected that the pace of investments is set to accelerate due to a growth in target allocations, although LPs are writing fewer checks and focusing on prioritizing existing managers. Our panel of leading regional allocators will discuss where they are putting their money in the year ahead, discuss their approaches towards manager selection and portfolio construction, and where they are finding the best opportunities in the infrastructure asset class in 2025.

• How are LPs allocating capital across core, core plus, value add and opportunistic investments?
• What are some of the top sub-sectors LPs are looking into?
• Direct investment into projects - how attractive is infrastructure investing compared to other asset classes?
• What are the opportunities to reinvest capital through alternative investment vehicles such as co-investments and secondaries?