Private capital for public assets with Charlotte Madden

In today's podcast we dive into the rapidly evolving world of infrastructure investment — a space that has moved from the periphery of specialist portfolios to the centre of global capital markets.

Once the preserve of a relatively narrow group of pension funds and specialist investors, infrastructure has now become a truly universal asset class, attracting sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, private equity houses and retail capital. 

And it’s an asset class that promises stable, long-term returns while underpinning the physical and digital systems that our economies depend upon.

Joining me to today to help understand why we are seeing these huge and profound changes – and why they matter - is Charlotte Madden, Partner and Co-Head of the Infrastructure Sector at global law firm Clifford Chance. 

Charlotte specialises in advising private equity and infrastructure funds on complex domestic and cross-border M&A, often involving highly regulated transactions. She has helped deliver the deals that make critical infrastructure happen, from the earliest structuring stages through to completion.

And in the UK, the stakes could not be higher. The government has set out an ambitious £725 billion infrastructure pipeline, with more than half of that expected to come from the private sector. From energy security and clean transport to housing and digital connectivity, these projects are central to national growth plans — yet the tension between private investment and public service delivery remains a live and often polarising debate.

It's a complex subject so let’s dig in …

Resources

• Clifford Chance infrastructure 
• 10 year infrastructure strategy
• UK infrastructure Pipeline
• NISTA website
• UK National Wealth Fund