Infrastructure and real estate may become more closely tied together if recent deals and trends pervade.
Toronto-based real estate giant Colliers International Group Inc. this week disclosed a pending investment in Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLP, an infrastructure investment management firm with more than $8.5 billion of assets under management. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, were not disclosed.
And, in October, New York Life Investments, in partnership with CBRE Investment Management, launched the MainStay CBRE Global Infrastructure Megatrends Fund, a closed-end fund that invests primarily in income-producing equity securities issued by infrastructure companies.
Jeremy Anagnos, chief investment officer of listed infrastructure at CBRE Investment Management, said the firm believes infrastructure is entering “an investment super cycle” in a statement when the deal was disclosed.
Doug Weill, founder and co-managing partner at New York-based real estate advisory firm Hodes Weill & Associates, speaking generally about the market, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see more investment between real estate and infrastructure in the next year or so.
“We’re seeing a crossover starting to occur, and I think that will drive some (mergers and acquisitions) activity,” Weill said.
Last year’s passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill may also compel more real estate-oriented groups to invest in infrastructure this year, especially as investors continue to look for places to place capital through the turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: SFBJ
