In recent years, infrastructure, such as roads, airports, sea ports, rail and telecommunication networks, has taken on increased importance as an investment opportunity, particularly in a climate of a significant reduction globally in  government spending on infrastructure. This has seen infrastructure emerge as a separate asset class for institutional capital, possessing distinctive characteristics and attractive investment features.

Graeme Newell and Hsu Wen Peng from the University of Western Sydney, Australia, look at this and find that infrastructure is becoming an increasingly attractive prospect, both because of the returns and portfolio diversification benefits being achieved and because of the potential size of the market.