Dive Brief:
- Investment management firm BlackRock predicts it will invest approximately $2.5 billion into infrastructure projects this year, the largest amount the company has put into such projects in any other one-year period, according to Bloomberg.
- BlackRock said it will place any U.S. outlay on hold — in favor of Latin American investment — until details are firmed up around President Donald Trump's proposed $1 trillion infrastructure plan.
- The company told Bloomberg that it will focus on energy, power and renewables, as well as transportation and "social infrastructure" projects like housing, schools and hospitals.
Dive Insight:
As for Trump's plans, Blackrock representatives said the quickest way for the new administration to get started on its goals would be to invest in the agencies already handling infrastructure and allow them to borrow more via municipal and state bonds. In another Bloomberg report last August, Barclays Plc noted that many local government agencies were taking advantage of attractive interest rates and using bonds to finance their projects, a trend that the firm said set a record $400 billion in bond issues for 2016.
Industry investors and the construction businesses so far seem optimistic about Trump's presidency. Once word hit of his victory last November, construction-related stocks skyrocketed in anticipation of $1 trillion of infrastructure investment. Qatar weighed in as well and pledged $10 billion in U.S. infrastructure financing, although it wasn't revealed whether that was in addition to the $35 billion it said it would spend on other U.S. projects.
Earlier this year, it was evident that enthusiasm for a Trump-sized infrastructure plan hadn't waned since the election when Altus Group released the results of a survey that they conducted of top U.S. real estate executives. The respondents were given an imaginary $1 billion to invest, and they chose to put 15.5% of those funds into infrastructure, a 215% increase from the previous survey.
Despite bipartisan support for a new infrastructure program to repair and build new projects, disagreement over the source of the funding continues to act as a roadblock to a major initiative.
