Global Projects Blog - Infrastructure Funds Popularity Rising?

Infrastructure managers raised four times as much capital in 2010 as they did in 2009, according to a new report by Preqin. Indeed, a total of 37 funds closed on roughly $30 billion throughout the year.

According to the report:

"The improving attitude towards infrastructure funds over the last 18 months is shown by the increasing number of vehicles reaching or exceeding their initial fundraising targets. 46% of funds that closed in 2010/H1 2011 achieved or exceeded their original targets, 14 percentage points higher than those that did so in 2009. This is in part a feature of the recent growth in fundraising, but is also as a result of fund managers setting more realistic fundraising targets in the wake of the financial crisis. However, the number of funds meeting or exceeding their fundraising goals in 2010/H1 2011 was still significantly less than the 73% and 62% that achieved this in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Despite the challenging fundraising environment, infrastructure fund managers have continued to launch new vehicles. A record 128 unlisted infrastructure funds are currently on the road seeking an aggregate $91.8bn. This represents 16% more funds than were on the road in January 2010, but an increase of only 2% in terms of aggregate capital sought. This again shows that fund managers are generally lowering their fundraising expectations for new funds, and also suggests that fundraising is set to remain extremely competitive with so many firms seeking commitments for new vehicles."

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Posted by ashby at August 2, 2011 3:35 PM