Undoubtedly, 2025 was a difficult year for Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs). Investors have seen underperformance against the FTSE 100, widening NAV discounts, several delistings, managed wind-downs (MWDs) and regulatory issues in both the UK and in the US. The question for investors is: where do we go from here? On the one hand, yields for some REIFS are well over twice those of 10-year gilts, and, generally, IICs have met their dividend expectations. On the other hand, however, the NAV discounts have widened, especially for REIFs.
What are the prospects for the 8 quoted IICs and the remaining 17 REIFs? Back in 2023, there were 31 quoted sector funds. While the IICs, with the notable exception of Digital 9 Infrastructure, have generally held their own of late, the opposite is the case for the REIFs, virtually all of which are currently trading at heavy discounts to NAV.
The shrunken 25-strong group now commands a much-reduced market capitalisation of ca.£19.1bn, weighted 58% in favour of the IICs. During 2025, after making various adjustments for the delisted funds, the IIC subsector rose by 3.7%, while the REIF subsector was down by a depressing 17.6%. Over the same period, the FTSE 100, driven by mining, defence and bank stocks, increased by almost 22%, while the FTSE 250 was up by a more modest 9%.
Specific comments have been made in this report on the following companies:
IICs
3i Infrastructure (3IN) page 13, Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD) page 15, Digital 9 Infrastructure (DGI9) page 17, GCP Infrastructure (GCP) page 18, HICL Infrastructure (HICL) page 19, International Public Partnerships (INPP) page 20, Pantheon Infrastructure (PINT) page 22, Sequoia Economic Infrastructure (SEQI) page 23.
REIFs
Aquila Energy Efficiency (AEET) page 36, Aquila European Renewables (AERI) page 37, Bluefield Solar (BSIF) page 37, Ecofin US Renewables Infrastructure (RNEW) page 39, Foresight Environmental Infrastructure (FGEN) page 39, Foresight Solar (FSFL) page 40, Gore Street Energy Storage (GSF) page 41, Greencoat Renewables (GRP) page 43, Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) page 43, Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID) page 45, Hydrogen Capital Growth (HGEN) page 46, NextEnergy Solar (NESF) page 47, Octopus Renewables Infrastructure (ORIT) page 48, SDCL Efficiency Income (SEIT) page 49, The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) page 50, US Solar Fund (USF) page 51, VH Global Energy Infrastructure (ENRG) page 52.
