Infrastructure: Trends Shaping Private Markets | Insights

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Key Takeaways

Digital and energy infrastructure are converging: The same AI-driven power demand is now the central deal driver in both sectors – utilities and generators are being acquired specifically to secure dispatchable capacity for data center load, not for traditional rate-based growth.
Mega-deal concentration is the defining feature of 2025–26: Deal counts are flat-to-down across all three sub-sectors while deal value holds up or grows – mirroring the broader M&A market, where global announced deal value hit $2.8Tr in H1 2026 (+48% YoY) even as deal count fell to a six-year low.
Fundraising is concentrating into fewer, larger vehicles: Nearly 75% of 2025 infrastructure capital went to the 50 largest funds, with the top five capturing close to half.
Private credit has moved from supplemental to core financing: Particularly in digital infrastructure, private credit now funds the majority of early-stage data center development.
Permitting and interconnection timelines extending: Buyers across energy transition, digital, and transportation & logistics infrastructure are paying for pre-built, pre-permitted assets as permitting timelines now extend past five years in many markets.
LPs increasingly treating infrastructure as a core allocation: Infrastructure fundraising grew at a 9% CAGR 2020–2025 while private equity, real estate, and private debt fundraising each declined 3–5% annually over the same stretch.