How do I invest in infrastructure?

Infrastructure investments include the physical assets like transportation, public housing, utilities, communication and infrastructure for renewable energy. By pooling your money with other investors through a fund or trust, you can buy a portion of a large piece of infrastructure like a toll road or power plant. 

Infrastructure investments may be accessed within super (depending on your super fund’s allocation to different investments), or outside of super through a listed or unlisted fund or trust:

• Listed infrastructure investments in a fund or trust are listed on a share market. The volatility of the share market can mean the value of the investment will fluctuate, making an infrastructure investment a higher risk. One benefit of a listed infrastructure investment is that it’s easier to sell and convert into cash. 
• Unlisted infrastructure investments can work in a similar way but are not listed on a public exchange. This means the fund or trust may not have an official, regulated marketplace for trading. You may also be required to hold these investments until the fund is wound up, meaning they are less liquid and more difficult to trade.
• Both listed and unlisted funds can be single-sector funds or diversified funds which are invested in a range of assets across different sectors, like transport, telecommunications and utilities.

Learn more about listed and unlisted assets.

There are risks associated with all investments, including infrastructure. For example: 

• Share markets fluctuate regularly, influenced by factors such as economic developments, wars, civil unrest, pandemics and even the weather. This means that the value of infrastructure investments listed on share markets can rise and fall in a similar way to shares, making them potentially more volatile.
• While investors in unlisted infrastructure investments may benefit from not being exposed to share market fluctuations, these investments also don't have a regulated marketplace for trading. This could potentially make their values less transparent as prices are determined not by markets but by investment professionals managing the fund or trust. Because unlisted investments don't have an official trading place, they may also be harder to buy and sell, meaning, investors may need to hold them until the fund is wound up.

Both listed and unlisted infrastructure investments have the potential to offer attractive, risk-adjusted returns over the long term. These returns can be generated by receiving income from the underlying assets, such as tolls on a toll road. This income is paid to investors of a fund or trust through regular distributions.