The need for trillions of dollars to be invested in U.S. infrastructure is well documented. Future models for infrastructure investment in the United States will include elements of both private equity and debt, but something is needed to better mobilize vast amounts of private capital sitting on the sidelines. Might investment structures involving long-term debt, inflation protection and federal government credit enhancement help open the floodgates for pension fund and other institutional investor capital to enter the infrastructure asset class?

The following “Food for Thought” report explores a hypothetical model that uses federally credit-enhanced taxable revenue bonds for institutional investors to finance U.S. infrastructure projects. The paper also explores alternatives that leverage private equity structures to expand the possibilities, and in all cases, the design-build-operate-and-manage model is the framework. This is the first part of a multi-part report. The