The staggering growth of infrastructure as an asset class has been fueled by a number of structural trends. These include its use to stimulate economic activity, the advancing age of existing infrastructure in developed countries, the requirement for new infrastructure in developing ones, governments’ desire to raise funds, and pension funds’ appetite for a global asset class offering a safe, dependable yield.
We at Egon Zehnder have been a key partner to leading players since the infrastructure sector’s inception, starting with Australia in the 1980s and continuing in Canada and the U.K. in the 1990s, long before this investment model became widespread. Core infrastructure assets — defined as those with sustainable, long-term cash flows — include “regulated assets” (power, gas, water), “user-demand assets” (transport), and “social infrastructure assets” (hospitals, prisons). The nature of key players is changing as well, with less emphasis on publicly quoted funds and the emergence of sovereign wealth funds, direct investors, and most recently, private equity. At the same time, great leadership has become more critical to performance than ever, with the ideal team profile changing with the economic environment. Asset management has become a big talent issue.
Our geographic scope and One Firm structure are ideally suited to this segment. Our broad global coverage gives us relevant expertise in all critical segments (government, investment banking, asset management, private equity, corporate, etc.) Our client base includes infrastructure funds, investment banks, fundraisers, corporates (executives and board directors), advisors, and governments, while our range of services goes well beyond executive search to include the assessment and development of current or potential executives. Our Infrastructure Practice is global in reach, with 66 offices spanning 36 countries, primarily hired from industry and all passionate about the segment.
