Abstract
Infrastructure assets show a growing demand worldwide and play an important role in the sustainable transition process, considering their role in mitigating the impact that economic activity can have on the environment and climate change. In general, the high need of financial resources for construction and/or refurbishments of infrastructure, which cannot be fully financed by the public sector, would require a greater involvement of the private sector. The ongoing changes in the financial industry, particularly relevant within the banking sector, would imply and increasing role of institutional operators of the so-called alternative finance, specialized in this asset class: infrastructure funds. The aim of this study is to provide with an overview of this asset class and an analysis, conducted at a micro level, of the infrastructure funds active on the main European markets, in order to point out their key characteristics and operating mechanisms, as well as the main differences and possible future trends.