Infrastructure knowledge hub

IFM Investors has an established track record in infrastructure, built by a long-term approach to value creation. Today, our portfolios invest in assets that include toll roads, airports, seaports, energy, pipelines, renewables, terminals and digital technology, mainly across North America, Europe and Australia. We strive to buy well and manage assets intensively, aiming to deliver resilient returns.

Here are the 6 lessons we’ve learned as an expert infrastructure equity investor.

 We think in decades, not in years or quarters.

The essential infrastructure assets we invest in serve communities and underpin the smooth-running of economies over life spans stretching 50 to 70 years, or more.  

Our long-term, open-ended fund structure enables us to construct an all-weather portfolio – one which supports revenue stability through varying market and economic conditions.  

From our own global team and advisory network to the teams who run the assets, we look to cultivate a team with a diversity of skills and experience.

We recognise the value of specialist industry expertise and we have developed an extensive group of senior advisors to work with us exclusively.

Buying well is the most critical part of the infrastructure investing equation, as it’s very difficult to recover from a bad buying decision. When considering investment opportunities, we look for a series of distinct characteristics.   

As a long-term investor investing through open-ended funds, we aim for capital structures that are resilient to market cycles. We focus on our assets issuing long-dated, fixed-rate debt while maintaining investment grade credit ratings.

Infrastructure is not a set and forget asset class. So actively managing our assets is one of our most important tools for maximising long-term returns to our clients. Our asset management initiatives range from capex programs, financing, M&A, safety reviews, mitigating climate change risk, and cyber security. 

Infrastructure debt can fit into a variety of portfolio allocations. By allocating to infrastructure debt, investors can seek exposure to assets essential for the functioning of society – assets often able to perform regardless of the economic cycle.
 
Whether lending to toll roads, power plants or port facilities, these are assets that are often the sole provider of a service to a community.

We lend to assets essential for the functioning of society – assets often able to perform regardless of the economic cycle. Whether lending to toll roads, power plants or port facilities, these are assets that are often the sole provider of a service to a community.  

Infrastructure debt can fit into a variety of portfolio allocations - primarily private credit or real asset allocations. From a private credit perspective, it fits in well with the portfolio because it acts as a ballast.

The asset class can potentially perform through economic cycles, and dampen the volatility that an investor may see in their broader corporate portfolio due to the economic cycle.  

The investment team at IFM Investors has decades of experience in the infrastructure debt market. Our experience means we have seen that technology changes that occur within the broader society drive changes within the infrastructure world.

Our experience allows us to chart how the market has evolved, to understand where the opportunity set is and have an understanding of emerging trends.  

At IFM Investors, we have structured our platform to provide access to infrastructure debt that can add value across the lifecycle – and across investment grade debt, sub investment grade debt, mezzanine debt, and across a broad range of credit profiles.  

The energy transition is a hot topic. Across mainstream markets, investors are focused on wind and solar, but we believe an additional opportunity set is looking beyond those traditional renewable asset classes to opportunities needed in 10 or 15 years.

IFM Investors is a unique organisation, almost exclusively focused globally on infrastructure, across debt and equity, with nearly 30 years of experience in the market.