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Essentials of Private Infrastructure

Private infrastructure provides essential services that are critical to the global economy.

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introduction to Private INFRASTRUCTURE

What You Need to Know
01

Historical Outperformance

Private infrastructure has historically generated higher returns with less volatility than public equities across cycles. [ 1 ]

02

Diversification Benefits

Private infrastructure has exhibited low correlation to other asset classes, providing potential diversification benefits. [ 2 ]

03

Potential Inflation Mitigation [ 3 ]

Infrastructure business models often have contracts indexed to inflation or with the potential for embedded inflation mitigation, which can help maintain profits in the face of rising costs.

Private infrastructure refers to the physical assets that provide and/or support essential services critical to the economy, such as energy grids and data centers.

Typically operating under long-term contracted or regulated business models, these assets can offer robust and stable cash flows with low sensitivity to the economic cycle, due to factors such as steady demand growth and potentially predictable cash flows. [ 4 ]

Understanding Private Infrastructure
Digital Infrastructure
Digital Infrastructure

Encompasses the data centers that power our digital lives and AI, the wireless networks that keep people connected, and the fiber-optic cables that span continents. As the digital age evolves, including as efficiency improvements lead to wider adoption, the demand for robust, secure, and fast digital infrastructure is expected to grow.

  • Data Centers
  • Cell Towers
  • Fiber

    • Digital Infrastructure
    Energy Infrastructure
    Energy Infrastructure

    From the development of new sources of electricity to the transportation of fuels, energy infrastructure powers the global economy. Increasing power demand is expected to drive long-term energy demand from a range of sources, including renewables and traditional energy.

    • Utilities / Transmission
    • Pipelines
    • Renewables

    Energy Transition
    Transportation
    Transportation

    Moving people and goods; transportation infrastructure is expected to become even more important given the sustained growth of e-commerce and increase in leisure travel.

  • Roads
  • Ports
  • Airports
  • Railroads
  • Marinas

      • Transportation
      Water & Waste
      Water & Waste

      Critical systems for managing water resources and waste, ensuring access to clean water and sustainable disposal methods.

    • Water & Sewage
    • Waste

      • Waste and water

      We believe infrastructure assets can be an important allocation in investor portfolios, potentially delivering robust returns, diversification benefits, inflation mitigation, and yield. [ 6 ]

      Private infrastructure has historically delivered higher returns with lower volatility than public markets across cycles. [ 7 ]

      Private infrastructure has historically exhibited low correlation to traditional asset classes, including investment grade bonds, private real estate, and global equities, providing potential diversification benefits to investors. [ 8 ]

      Private infrastructure can also deliver inflation mitigation as infrastructure business models often have contracts indexed to inflation or with embedded inflation mitigants, which can help maintain profits in the face of rising costs. Lastly, private Infrastructure can be a steady source of income for investors due to the long-term contracts in place. [ 9 ]

      Growth of $100,000 Investment [ 10 ]
      (in thousands)

      exhibit 1 line chart: increasing from $100,00 in 2024 to $723k in private infrastructure and $597k in public equities in 2025. exhibit 1 line chart: increasing from $100,00 in 2024 to $723k in private infrastructure and $597k in public equities in 2025.

      Infrastructure as an asset class is broader than bridges and tunnels – for instance it can include cutting-edge sectors of the economy, such as data centers. When investing in private infrastructure, selecting the right sectors, markets and assets can be critical to generating strong performance. It is important to focus on high-quality assets with attractive growth potential driven by long-term, secular tailwinds.

      This means identifying and concentrating capital around major trends, such as the rise of leisure travel, or the growth in cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

      Manager selection is also critical to success. Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager [ 11 ] with a 40-year track record.

      CASE STUDY

      In 2024, Blackstone acquired AirTrunk, the largest data center platform in the Asia-Pacific region and Blackstone’s largest APAC investment to date. [ 13 ] This transaction exemplifies Blackstone’s ability to invest at scale behind high-conviction themes, capitalizing on long term trends in data growth. We believe Cloud computing, content creation and now artificial intelligence are driving robust demand for digital infrastructure. In fact, more data was created in the last three years (2021-2024) than all prior history combined.

      Blackstone views the rise of artificial intelligence as an engine for future growth in digital infrastructure assets.

      Learn More
      Airtrunk Knockout Logo

      AirTrunk’s data centers in Singapore and Australia show the massive physical infrastructure required to support Asia-Pacific’s data growth, with facilities spanning multiple hectares and delivering hundreds of megawatts of capacity. 

      Singapore

      Air Trunk


      Australia

      Air Trunk Australia

      Explosive Growth in Data [ 14 ]
      Created, Consumed, and Stored in Zettabytes

      Global Data Created Consumed Stored: Cloud Adoption and Content Creation, 2010,2, 201-2019; Arificial Intelligence, 2022-2028E, 394; 197x increase Global Data Created-Consumed-Stored: Cloud Adoption and Content Creation, 2010,2; 2011-2021; Arificial Intelligence, 2022-2028E, 394; 197x increase

      Private infrastructure has attracted over $1 trillion from investors and is projected to surpass $2 trillion by 2029. Institutional investors have increased their average private infrastructure allocations by 1.5x since 2019, with levels expected to double by 2029.

      Individual investors are markedly under-allocated to private infrastructure, especially when compared to institutional investors. Eligible individual investors can now invest in private infrastructure through perpetual funds. These funds have potentially appealing attributes, [ 15 ] including:

      • Immediate investment of capital from the moment of subscription, eliminating any waiting for money to be put to work
      • The flexibility for investors to subscribe to or redeem out of the fund periodically, based on the fund’s net asset value (NAV), within certain restrictions

      Increasing AUM
      Total Institutional AUM in Private Infrastructure [ 16 ]

      bar chart: aum expected to triple to $2.3T in 2029 from $0.8T in 2019.

      Increasing Allocations
      Weighted Average Target Allocation to Infrastructure [ 17 ]

      bar chart: allocations expected to double to 7% in 2029 from 4% in 2019.

      Ultimately, private market investing means active ownership of less liquid assets. Liquidity needs at the total portfolio level are one important consideration before allocating to private infrastructure. In addition, manager selection may be of particular importance given that we have seen certain infrastructure managers include “infrastructure-like” investments in their portfolios. Key manager attributes include scale, staying power and a potentially differentiated ability to source strategically located, hard-asset infrastructure.

      Read the complete Essentials of Private Infrastructure
      Read the complete Essentials of Private Infrastructure
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      Essentials of Private Markets

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      For Financial Professionals: Accessing Private Markets

      For Financial Professionals: Allocating to Private Assets

      PWS202501193

      Based on quarterly returns from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2024 sourced from Morningstar. Global Private Infrastructure (Cambridge Private Infrastructure Index); Global Public Equity (MSCI ACWI). January 1, 2004 represents the inception date for the Cambridge Private Infrastructure index.
      Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against losses.
      Risk Management seeks to mitigate risk but does not eliminate risk and does not protect against losses.
      Based on Blackstone’s beliefs and market observations and subject to change.
      Based on Blackstone’s beliefs and market observations and subject to change. The below illustrate investment themes that may be pursued when making a particular investment. Such themes are subject to change and there can be no assurance that Blackstone will pursue any particular theme.
      There is no assurance that any fund or strategy will effectively hedge inflation. There can be no assurance that an allocation to infrastructure would yield returns or protect capital. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against losses.
      Any investment involves a high degree of risk. There is no guarantee that any investment will achieve its aims or objectives or avoid substantial losses.
      Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against losses.
      There is no assurance that any fund or strategy will effectively hedge inflation. There can be no assurance that an allocation to infrastructure would yield returns or protect capital.
      Cambridge Associates, as of June 30, 2025. Growth of $100,000 based on cumulative returns from January 1, 2004, to June 30, 2025, based on earliest common inception date. Past performance does not predict future returns. “Private Infrastructure” is represented by the pooled returns of the Cambridge Private Infrastructure Index, which is comprised of infrastructure funds, including fully liquidated partnerships, formed between 1993 and 2025. “Public Equities” are represented by the Cambridge Modified Public Market Equivalent (“PME”) analysis of the MSCI ACWI Index. Comparisons of private infrastructure performance to public equity performance is therefore based on the difference in performance between Cambridge Private Infrastructure Index IRR and the hypothetical PME return of the MSCI ACWI Index. Hypothetical PME index performance may differ materially from the performance of such index during the same time period on account of the adjustments made for the timing of cash flows as per the PME analysis. Returns shown above have been compounded quarter over quarter to show comparison over time and may not be representative of actual historical returns experienced by investors in public equities. PME data contained herein was generated by Cambridge Associates’ PME tool as of June 30, 2025, and was not calculated by Blackstone. PME methodology replicates the date and amount of cash flows from Cambridge Private Equity Index capital calls or distributions in a public market index (i.e., MSCI ACWI). There are multiple PME calculation methodologies that can be used to compare private and public markets, and the use of a different PME calculation methodology may result in a different outcome than the one shown here. Cambridge Associates’ Private Investments Database is a collection of private fund performance. The private fund and investment-level performance information is drawn from the quarterly and audited annual financial statements of the fund managers and each manager’s reported performance numbers are independently recreated from the financial statements and verified by Cambridge Associates. Private Infrastructure assets are expected to face risks different than those faced by public equities, including significantly less liquidity, as private infrastructure assets generally do not have liquid markets and may face a greater risk of default and related risk of loss of principal. Additionally, investments in private infrastructure are speculative and often include a higher degree of risk. Indices are provided for illustrative purposes only, and there are significant risks and limitations to relying on comparisons to an index, including the PME adjustments. These indices have been selected as generally well-known and widely recognized indices and not as a benchmark for any specific fund.
      Largest global alternative asset manager reflects Preqin data as of September 30, 2025 or as of latest publicly available company data.
      This case study is intended to illustrate investment themes that may be pursued when making an investment. Such themes are subject to change and there can be no assurance that Blackstone will pursue any particular theme.
      Largest by contracted capacity and land bank size. Excludes platforms with single market exposure. DC Byte, as of September 2025.
      International Data Corporation (IDC), as of May 2024. 2024-2028 represent year-end estimates. There is no guarantee that the trends depicted herein will continue or will not reverse.
      The information presented represents what is typically seen for perpetual fund types but variations and/or exceptions do exist. Therefore, the information herein is provided for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice, nor should any information in this document be relied on when making an investment decision. Recipients should consult their own financial advisers regarding the information herein.
      Source: Preqin 2025 Global Report: Infrastructure.
      2019 and 2024 numbers from Infrastructure Investor, Investor Report Full Year 2024. Expected 2029 value from IFM Investors report, November 2024.