Ilias Benjelloun, Managing Director at Macquarie Asset Management, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, at iCapital Connect 2026 to discuss the growing opportunity and investment case for private infrastructure.
Macquarie is one of the largest private infrastructure managers, with more than $200 billion in assets under management. Benjelloun emphasizes the firm’s focus on operational expertise and long-term stewardship to build businesses capable of delivering essential services for decades.
Benjelloun points to private infrastructure as a significant area of opportunity, noting that some estimates indicate the world will require more than $100 trillion in private infrastructure investment over the next two decades. Meanwhile, he highlights increasing private sector participation in the asset class, explaining that the top 100 infrastructure managers account for approximately $1 trillion in assets under management, a figure projected to rise to $2 trillion over the next five years.
Benjelloun notes that the asset class is in the early stage of global adoption. He explains that markets are beginning to follow the lead of countries such as Australia, where pension portfolios already allocate about 7% to 10% to infrastructure due to private infrastructure’s defensive characteristics, including long-term contracts, inflation protection, and demand for essential services.
Within private infrastructure, Benjelloun identifies four key sectors of growth: digital infrastructure, energy transition, transportation and logistics, and essential services. For example, he notes that demand for data centers, fiber networks, and connectivity is being driven by exponential growth in data consumption and AI adoption, creating attractive investment opportunities in digital infrastructure. Benjelloun adds that successful investing requires identifying emerging themes early, anticipating the needs of growing communities, and deploying capital in a disciplined, operationally focused manner.
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