Maintaining and developing well-functioning infrastructure requires massive investment — in industrialized countries as well as in emerging markets.
The background
The global need for infrastructure investment (transport, water, waste, communications, energy, etc.) is enormous and is rising rapidly from year to year. Over the past few decades, many countries have invested far too little in this wide-ranging area. Crumbling roads, schools and bridges, outdated rail facilities and sewage systems are only the most obvious shortcomings that need to be remedied as soon as possible. After all, intact infrastructure is one of the most important prerequisites for economic prosperity. A good example here are the ports in Los Angeles and neighboring Long Beach. They are the largest in the US. That these hubs function well is very important for global supply chains. And yet, because of their lack of efficiency, these key ports rank in the bottom two of 370 major ports worldwide in the Container Port Performance Index 2021 from the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence. The US government has already earmarked billions in investment to modernize ports.
The theme in the Megatrends portfolio
Infrastructure is currently one of the investment themes in quirion's Megatrends portfolio. What all the themes have in common is that they are strongly influenced by megatrends such as urbanization, demographic change and globalization, but also by sustainability, individualization and digitalization.
The selected themes are each supported by several megatrends and are also interconnected with one another. That's a signal of their sustainability.
More about the investment themes New Energies, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and Smart Cities.
The infrastructure investment focus
Companies from a wide range of sectors can benefit from the large investment sums that are set to flow into infrastructure in the future. That applies to energy and transport as well as to water and waste. Just how much of the necessary investment will actually be realized, and exactly when, is nonetheless hard to gauge. While the Megatrends portfolio does carry risks, it offers broader diversification compared with individual direct investments.
