Australian Infrastructure Investment – Is It Sustainable?

In light of many recent big ticket transactions, there was an interesting debate at the 2nd annual Infrastructure Investor Australia Summit as to whether the level of local investment opportunities was sustainable.

Only those who have been living under a rock wouldn't be aware that Australia has attracted institutional capital for infrastructure investment since the 1990s. The government began privatising the utility sector (power generation and distribution) as well as other infrastructure assets like toll roads, communication and airports.

Despite the industry's perceived maturity, the continued wave of privatisation has resulted in an uninterrupted pipeline of transaction opportunities. In the last few years alone, various assets including ports (eg. Port of Melbourne), electricity transmission and distribution networks (TransGrid, Ausgrid, and Endeavour Energy) and toll roads (Queensland Motorways) were fully or partly privatised.