Interest in infrastructure investments continues unabated, and in Germany high net worth individuals are now also beginning to show an interest. „There are some semi-liquid investment opportunities on the market specifically for this group of investors – demand is extremely high there,“ says Dominik von Scheven, Managing Director and member of the global infrastructure investment committee at Hamilton Lane, an investment manager specialising in private markets. Last autumn it set up a special vehicle without a fixed term – a so called evergreen structure.

In the USA, the investment manager is also targeting retail investors, who can purchase shares in the „Hamilton Lane Private Infrastructure Fund“ via the Republic investment platform for as little as 500 dollars. The fund is flexible, meaning that investors can join and leave the fund every month. However, there is a twelve-month lock-up on entry, and exits are limited to a total maximum of 5% per quarter. There is vehicle specifically for US investors, and one for all investors outside the US. In Europe, the „Hamilton Lane Private Markets Access Eltif“, which also invests in infrastructure and private equity and is distributed via partners throughout Europe, has also been available for several weeks. The minimum investment amount is 5,000 euros.

Institutional investors also write small tickets for these funds, and for many this can be the entry point into infrastructure investments. While it can take three to six months for institutional investors to finalise a deal, von Scheven observes that it is often only days or weeks for evergreen structures.

Thanks to the investment package that has been agreed in Germany, there is a great deal of optimism concerning this asset class. However, most of the funds are likely to go into railways, bridges and roads, areas that have so far been largely reserved for institutional investors. Von Scheven hopes that it will still be possible to attract private investors, for example through public-private partnerships (PPP).

Private investors are already heavily involved in renewable energies and the area of digitalisation: a lot is happening worldwide, particularly in data centres. The firm has completed a transaction in Europe, and is currently looking at one in North America. The energy transition is also still a theme, although it is clear that it is no longer as big a political issue as it was twelve months ago, says von Scheven: „Nevertheless, a lot of money is still being invested.“

In the rapid growth of the infrastructure market, the small and medium-sized segment has been severely neglected, in von Scheven's opinion. „There is less competition there. The market is opening up more and more and becoming more interesting.“

The secondary market for infrastructure investments, where shares in existing structures are traded, is also growing steadily. 2024 was an absolute record year for transactions. According to estimates, it could reach annual sales of 30 billion to 50 billion dollars in the next few years. It lags about eight years behind the secondary market for private equity.

Hamilton Lane is currently talking to some investors who want to sell large portfolios. „Since last year, we have already completed more than 15 secondary market transactions", says von Scheven. Hamilton Lane's preferred target size per transaction is between 50 million and 500 million euros of net asset value (NAV). In some cases, however, transactions with a NAV of 1 billion euros are also carried out. In so-called continuation funds, the number of assets is usually less than 200, whereby assets with particular potential for development are removed from an existing fund and sold to a new fund in which new investors participate with fresh capital.