“Early on, the period was characterised by our building a credible offering and a number of opportunities presented themselves,” he says. “Institutions were investing in toll roads and airports but they didn’t have much in the way of energy assets.” The diversified fund was launched when there was a lot of exuberance in the market, Clarke says. The barriers to entry for managers and investors looked low but the investments were actually quite complex. “We weren’t prepared to buy overpriced assets,” he says. “We never participated in the PPP (public-private partnership) market for that reason. We always wanted to focus on investor returns.”

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