The Infrastructure Investor Podcast

In this special episode – based on a keynote interview done on 24 March at our Global Summit in Berlin – editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Sean Klimczak, Blackstone’s global head of infrastructure. As the world’s largest investor in data centres, a significant part of the discussion centred on how Blackstone is investing in the sector. Highlights included Klimczak’s call on the industry to move beyond a “do no harm” standard and add net benefits to the communities where data centres are built. He also spoke about how the data centre market will internationalise in 2026-27, with a particular focus on Asia-Pacific as a development hotspot. Other talking points included Blackstone's role as a major investor in US utilities at a time of surging power demand; the risks of what Klimczack termed the “private equity-ification” of infrastructure, as the asset class’s boundaries expand; and why Europe is “for sale” and seen by Blackstone as a tremendous opportunity.

Infrastructure Investor’s Global Summit, our flagship gathering in Berlin, attracted around 3,500 members this March for a week of networking and agenda-setting discussions, where the digital revolution, energy transition and a wealth of other topics were analysed, parsed and dissected by some of the most significant players in the industry. In this episode, PEI Group's head of special projects, real assets, James Linacre picks out key insights with senior members of Infrastructure Investor’s editorial team, including editor-in-chief Bruno Alves, deputy editor Kalliope Gourntis, Infrastructure Investor Deals editor Nathalie Tidman and PEI Group APAC editor Daniel Kemp.

This episode is sponsored by Nuveen Infrastructure and Quinbrook The energy transition is one of the most prominent mega-trends driving investment in infrastructure today. Even as the current US administration is pushing back on the country’s net-zero commitments and scaling back federal incentives, other regions continue to support the decarbonisation agenda, attracting some of the largest players in private infrastructure. In 2025, China alone added more than 430GW of new wind and solar capacity, not far off the 585GW global additions posted in 2024, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). And more than half of all new vehicle sales in China last year were electric, showcasing the country’s burgeoning green credentials. In this episode of The Infrastructure Investor Podcast, Joost Bergsma, global head of clean energy at Nuveen Infrastructure, and David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner at Quinbrook, discuss the many factors driving appetite for the energy transition despite the pockets of geopolitical hostility. While policy reversal might make the headlines, both still see plenty of exciting opportunities to fund the net-zero transition.

This episode is sponsored by Brookfield The infrastructure asset class is entering a defining moment. As energy transition pressures, geopolitics and capital intensity reshape the market, assets such as power networks and digital infrastructure are becoming central to economic competitiveness, rather than simply defensive investments. Artificial intelligence is accelerating this shift. Beyond the hype, AI’s growth depends on vast amounts of physical infrastructure – from power generation and transmission to advanced data centres and computers. Meeting that demand is pulling infrastructure managers into a global race alongside hyperscalers and governments, creating one of the decade’s most significant investment opportunities. This podcast is part of PEI Group's Private Markets 2030 programme exploring how private markets are evolving through the second half of the decade. In this programme, we unpack how managers can adapt, attract capital and deliver performance in an increasingly complex market. Joining us are two guests from Brookfield: Stewart Upson, co-president of Brookfield’s infrastructure group, and Udhay Mathialagan, a managing partner in the infrastructure group and CEO of Brookfield’s global data centre practice. They discuss the opportunities and risks for managers delivering the supporting infrastructure around AI and look at how investors are partnering with governments, hyperscalers and AI developers. Read more insights on the infrastructure AI journey from Brookfield’s Stewart Upson here.

In this year's last episode, editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Doug Kimmelman, founder and executive chairman of Energy Capital Partners. Today's discussion focuses on the US electricity market, which is experiencing a "shining moment" driven by unprecedented demand growth after 30 years of stagnation. Key drivers include the massive power needs of artificial intelligence and data centres, along with LNG exports, the onshoring of manufacturing, and the expansion of electric vehicles and crypto mining. This surging demand - which could require as much as 400GW of new capacity, including replacements for retiring coal and nuclear plants - is rapidly transforming the sector. With that in mind, we discuss how the market is prioritising slowing the retirement of existing generation, brownfield expansions, and fast-to-deploy solar and storage, while the reliance on natural gas increases despite turbine bottlenecks. We also explore how the presence of hyperscalers with strong balance sheets is reshaping the contracting environment, leading to longer-tenure, highly financeable power purchase agreements.

In this episode, Daniel Kemp, APAC editor, private markets, for PEI Group and APAC real assets reporter Tom Taylor reflect on our recent Infrastructure Investor Network Australia Forum, in Melbourne, and other Asia-Pacific events held this year. The discussion covers a wide range of topics, including how geopolitics is shaping investment decisions across the region; AI and digital infrastructure’s thematic dominance, with massive demand for data centres driving investment not only in developing markets but also in Southeast Asia; the headwinds Australia is facing, with foreign investor frustration over new tax rules, and renewables stagnation; the maturation of Japan’s investor base, with LPs starting to make more direct fund commitments; the importance of relationship-driven capital, and much more.

This episode is sponsored by Fengate Asset Management and Arcus Infrastructure Partners As a backlash against ESG gathers strength, particularly in the United States, it might be reasonable to assume that infrastructure managers are quietly retreating from their sustainability commitments. While it is true that some managers are adjusting their language in how they talk about ESG and sustainability, we find that others are still eager to emphasise their importance to the asset class. In this episode, Della Wang, director for responsible investment at Fengate Asset Management, and Neil Krawitz, partner and head of ESG and asset management at Arcus Infrastructure Partners, discuss how managers need to take a long-term view when it comes to sustainability. They agree that a key focus now needs to be on adaptation, as climate change forces managers to confront the reality of more frequent and extreme weather events.

In this episode, Infrastructure Investor editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Sikander Rashid, global head of AI Infrastructure at Brookfield Asset Management. Brookfield is the largest manager in the world, according to our Infrastructure Investor 100 ranking. It also bills itself as the world’s “largest digital infrastructure investor – with more than $100 billion invested to date – and the world’s largest private capital investor in clean energy”. Both are handy as it launches its new AI infrastructure strategy. Unsurprisingly, we spend a lot of time talking about how that strategy will work, and why Brookfield decided to create it. A highlight of our conversation is how Brookfield intends to bring down the cost of capital for compute – via GPU-as-a-service, for example – and whether those investments will check the right infrastructure investment boxes. We also touch on the growing investment opportunity in stabilised data centres, digital sovereignty and much more.

In this episode, Infrastructure Investor editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Stonepeak chairman, CEO and co-founder Michael Dorrell. Stonepeak is the seventh-largest manager in the world, according to our Infrastructure Investor 100 ranking, and Dorrell is a well-known industry veteran. So perhaps unsurprisingly, a large portion of our discussion focused on how the asset class has been evolving. For example, how strong are the moats of different types of infrastructure assets, and what’s the next best thing if they don’t have a strong moat? Why does Dorrell feel that a scarcity of power actually improved the moats and the longevity of contracts in the data centre sector? How is he feeling about the health of the US renewables sector? What thresholds had to be crossed for Stonepeak, a predominantly North America-focused investor, to branch out into other geographies? And much more.

Editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Actis chairman and senior partner Torbjorn Caesar. In a wide-ranging discussion with the growth markets specialist, Caesar argues that perception of risk (versus real risk) is still the main impediment to channeling more infrastructure capital into these markets. He also explains why investors should think of growth markets as “most markets”, how strong demand for critical infrastructure offers the strongest risk mitigation, which markets offer the best opportunities, and much more.

In this episode, editor-in-chief Bruno Alves sits down with Nathalie Tidman, editor of Infrastructure Investor Deals, our new transactions-focused affiliate title launched in January, and Americas editor Zak Bentley, to talk about the deal landscape. The discussion delves into the slow pace of European M&A and why it predates current market volatility, why LPs are shying away from platforms dominated by early-stage pipelines, opportunities in the transport and energy-from-waste sectors, and the rise in infrastructure-adjacent opportunities.

This episode is sponsored by Edmond de Rothschild and Palistar Capital Digital infrastructure is developing rapidly, turbocharged first by the coronavirus pandemic and now by advances in artificial intelligence, which have turned data centres into arguably the hottest investment in infrastructure at the moment. The sector also includes fibre and towers, both of which are also attracting strong investor interest. This episode of The Infrastructure Investor Podcast focuses on the growth of – and opportunities within – digital infrastructure’s three key subsectors. Jean-Francis Dusch, global head of infrastructure and structured finance at EdR, and Josh Oboler, investment partner at Palistar Capital, explore how AI is transforming the data centre landscape, where to find the best opportunities in fibre, and why towers continue to make such a good investment.

As infrastructure changes and evolves as an asset class, we often discuss whether it’s become riskier. But what does "risker" actually mean? In this episode, editor-in-chief Bruno Alves, Americas editor Zak Bentley and Anne-Louise Stranne Petersen, senior reporter – energy transition, debate what asset class characteristics are falling by the wayside, which new risks investors need to be aware of these days – particularly in the burgeoning energy transition arena – and whether a riskier asset class is still something most people would call infrastructure.