Even if the world of financial investments may seem limitless to private investors, they very quickly come up against limits.
Infrastructure investments are the best example of this.
These are reserved for institutional investors such as insurers or pension funds.
You can participate directly in toll roads, fiber optic networks or renewable energy.
The asset class has interesting advantages: reliable income, which means it is easy to plan and – last but not least – contractually regulated protection against inflation.
The need for infrastructure investments will be immense around the world in the coming decades. Not only will the road and rail networks, which are in need of renovation in many places, contribute to this, but also climate change and digitization.
In order to be able to participate in the opportunities, private investors have to look around.
Investing directly in infrastructure stocks carries the risk of cluster risk.
An alternative would be specialized funds, including the cheaper passive index funds (ETFs).
What has hardly existed so far, however, is the direct participation of private investors in infrastructure projects.
The Eltif fund class developed by the EU for infrastructure and company investments can offer an opportunity for this.
After years of stagnation, the Eltifs are now gaining momentum in this country too.
The fund industry should now try to strengthen this.