Infrastructure Finance: The Business of Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future - Hardcover

by Neil S. Grigg (Author)

A comprehensive look at the emergence of infrastructure finance

Just as infrastructure development acts as a catalyst for economic growth, it is also changing the landscape for potential investors and the burgeoning field of infrastructure finance. Infrastructure systems for transportation, utilities, and public works are essential for economic growth and have quickly developed into an emerging alternative asset class.

Infrastructure Finance examines how the activities associated with updating and creating efficient transportation and communications, reliable and affordable energy, clean water, and other essential systems, have become a profitable financial endeavor. Recently, providing, operating, and maintaining infrastructure has advanced as a recognized and important investment sector that reaches beyond earlier business models. Infrastructure Finance puts this field in perspective and details what you need to know to succeed within it.

• An informative look at infrastructure finance-an emerging alternative investment for all types of institutional investors
• Dissects the central organizational and financial issues behind the revolutions that are occurring in infrastructure management and finance
• Contains detailed guidance for navigating the dynamic field of infrastructure finance
• Discusses infrastructure as arteries of life for a better world
• Highlights infrastructure undergoing transformations to adapt to turbulent environments
• Focuses on Green infrastructure to balance economic and environmental changes

As infrastructure finance continues to grow in importance, you'll need to enhance your understanding of its essential aspects. Infrastructure Finance will provide you with the insights to achieve this goal.

Front Jacket

Without basic systems such as transportation, energy, and water, neither the economy nor society can function. And for this reason, infrastructure, no matter how you define it, will always be a large and important business sector. Recently, due to the credit crisis, providing, operating, and maintaining infrastructure has advanced as a recognized and important investment sector that reaches beyond earlier business models for transportation and public utilities. Banks, hedge funds, and other alternative asset investors are now extremely interested in infrastructure investments, and the field is expected to grow beyond $1 trillion in the next few years. Infrastructure Finance puts the changes in this burgeoning field into perspective and shows how you can profit from it.

Author Neil Grigg explains how infrastructure is a composite sector and details its sub-sectors, including transportation, telecommunications, energy, water, waste management, and construction. He then identifies direct avenues for investment, such as stocks and bonds, and offers information about infrastructure sector indices, which are proliferating due to the rising popularityof infrastructure as an investment category. In addition, he addresses business opportunities that arise for private equity, startups, and new markets for infrastructure firms.

This reliable resource also presents a scorecard ofstatistics for the aggregated infrastructure sectorand its parts, introduces an overall financialmodel for the sector, explains its capital structure, and describes the sources of revenues for its sub-sectors. The final chapter explains current thinking about national policy, including publicand private roles in improving infrastructure, while dealing with an ongoing financial crisis. Along the way, the book presents a number of brief profiles of public agencies, private infrastructure companies, and supplier firms. The profiles illustrate how the players participate in the infrastructure arena, whether they are public or private entities, and also reveal how private sector players can work within the government-dominated infrastructure arena.

Deciding how to meet infrastructure needs drives an ongoing political debate about the allocation of resources and the roles of government, business, and individuals. But while the debates proceed, it remains clear that infrastructure is essential to meet human and environmental needs--and a solid investment in the future.

Back Jacket

INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE

Without basic systems such as transportation, energy, and water, neither the economy nor society can function. And for this reason, infrastructure, no matter how you define it, will always be a large and important business sector. Recently, due to the credit crisis, providing, operating, and maintaining infrastructure has advanced as a recognized and important investment sector that reaches beyond earlier business models for transportation and public utilities. Banks, hedge funds, and other alternative asset investors are now extremely interested in infrastructure investments, and the field is expected to grow beyond $1 trillion in the next few years. Infrastructure Finance puts the changes in this burgeoning field into perspective and shows how you can profit from it.

Author Neil Grigg explains how infrastructure is a composite sector and details its sub-sectors, including transportation, telecommunications, energy, water, waste management, and construction. He then identifies direct avenues for investment, such as stocks and bonds, and offers information about infrastructure sector indices, which are proliferating due to the rising popularityof infrastructure as an investment category. In addition, he addresses business opportunities that arise for private equity, startups, and new markets for infrastructure firms.

This reliable resource also presents a scorecard ofstatistics for the aggregated infrastructure sector and its parts, introduces an overall financial model for the sector, explains its capital structure, and describes the sources of revenues for its sub-sectors. The final chapter explains current thinking about national policy, including public and private roles in improving infrastructure, while dealing with an ongoing financial crisis. Along the way, the book presents a number of brief profiles of public agencies, private infrastructure companies, and supplier firms. The profiles illustrate how the players participate in the infrastructure arena, whether they are public or private entities, and also reveal how private sector players can work within the government-dominated infrastructure arena.

Deciding how to meet infrastructure needs drives an ongoing political debate about the allocation of resources and the roles of government, business, and individuals. But while the debates proceed, it remains clear that infrastructure is essential to meet human and environmental needs--and a solid investment in the future.

Author Biography

NEIL S. GRIGG is professor of civil and environmental engineering at Colorado State University. He has worked as professor, administrator, and consultant in the fields of infrastructure engineering and management, water resources engineering, urban water systems, and public administration of infrastructure facilities and environmental regulatory programs. Grigg is a registered professional engineer in Colorado, Alabama, and North Carolina. He has served as a consultant for many government organizations, including the United Nations agencies FAO, UNDP, and UNESCO.