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European Transformation: Infrastructure’s Missing Capital

Infrastructure
European Transformation

11/19/2024

Richard Marshall

Head of Infrastructure Research

Murray Birt

Senior ESG Strategist

  • European Transformation is an opportunity for infrastructure investors to deploy capital to address key challenges to the region’s economic security, competitiveness, and sustainability.
  • Historically strong infrastructure fundraising into ever-larger Core/Core+ funds risks underfunding smaller, innovative infrastructure businesses, crucial for the energy and digital transitions, which at the same time offer access to potentially higher returns for investors.
  • Europe needs EUR 6 trillion for its green and digital transformation, with EUR 3.5 trillion currently planned. This gap offers a significant opportunity for private capital to benefit from Europe’s long term, well-rounded, and globally competitive infrastructure policies.

 

European Transformation & The Missing Middle 


European governments have increasingly recognised the need for strategic efforts to address the region’s economic security, competitiveness, and sustainability. The issues identified and recommendations in reports from former Italian Prime Minister Letta[1] and former European Central Bank President Draghi[2], echo the findings and efforts of DWS on its European Transformation initiative since December 2022.[3] The region has been at the forefront of policy formation in the sustainability realm for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict and increasing geopolitical risk adds further policy impetus for European transformation. 

In this report we focus on the need to provide capital to the foundational energy and digital infrastructure of the next generation, to scale solutions to tackle these fundamental challenges Europe faces. We highlight that the trends in infrastructure fundraising are increasingly directing capital towards larger funds, which poses a risk of resource misallocation. This situation potentially leaves the 'missing middle' segment under-capitalised, hindering the growth of smaller yet essential infrastructure assets and enterprises. We emphasize the substantial investment opportunity presented by the resolution of these challenges, as well as the capital required for effective transformation in Europe[4].

European Transformation: Infrastructure’s Missing Capital
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