Sweden-based private equity firm EQT is launching a new strategy for private wealth clients to access its infrastructure investments, broadening its investor base at a time when the industry is plowing into retail markets.
EQT Nexus Infrastructure, the firm’s latest semi-liquid fund, will give both individual and institutional investors access to a variety of infrastructure investment strategies, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News.
The buyout firm’s €75 billion ($77 billion) global infrastructure business invests in the digital, energy and environmental and transport and logistics sectors, as well as social infrastructure. Its holdings span scale-up businesses to mature companies.
“Private individuals have kind of realized that infrastructure investing is the fundamental backbone of many things we do in our society,” EQT partner Peter Beske Nielsen said in an interview. “By adding in infrastructure assets to the portfolio, they can both get a return, and also get a bit of an inflation hedge, which has been a big topic over the last few years.”
There’s increased demand from institutional investors as well for semi-liquid or evergreen funds, Nielsen said. Such structures allow investors to chip in and withdraw money more freely than typical funds that run for a fixed period of time.
Private capital heavyweights from Apollo Global Management to Blackstone are looking to draw wealthy individuals into the fast-growing market for alternative investments. Goldman Sachs Group’s alternative investment arm last month launched a global infrastructure fund for wealthy individuals.
