World’s Best Investment Banks 2025: Infrastructure

Throughout 2024, the infrastructure sector was highly active for investment bankers, with robust deal flow across renewable energy, digital transformation, and critical infrastructure projects. Major banks like Absa Bank, ICBC, OTP Bank, Bradesco BBI, J.P. Morgan, and Intesa Sanpaolo participated in significant deals globally, highlighting strong demand for financing in sustainable and strategic infrastructure investments. Standard Chartered emerged as the top lender in infrastructure finance, focusing on both emerging markets and sustainable projects. In Saudi Arabia, for example, it helped close a $677 million desalination project providing 600,000 cubic meters of water daily.

“Deal activity in the travel, logistics, and infrastructure sector increased markedly in 2024 compared with the previous year, with a total deal value of $157 billion in 2024 versus $115 billion in 2023,” a McKinsey reported stated. “However, activity was still below prepandemic levels (with a total deal value of $173 billion in 2019) and substantially below peaks in 2021 and 2022. Similarly, the proportion of private equity deals in the sector increased—from 14% of all deals in 2023 to 22% in 2024.”  —AN

Standard Chartered is a leading international bank recognized for its work in infrastructure finance. It focuses on emerging markets and promotes social and economic development through sustainable finance. Much of the bank’s infrastructure finance efforts is centered on projects for renewable energy and clean water, including several waste-to-energy projects in the Middle East; one is the first such plant to be built in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi’s waste-to-energy project will be developed by Emirates Water and Electricity Company and Tadweer (formerly the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Company). Standard Chartered underwrote and advised on the facility. The proposed plant will be a multiline facility that can treat 900,000 tons of municipal solid waste annually to generate about 80 MW of electricity for the local grid, powering 50,000 households. The plant will be one of the largest of its kind, reducing CO2 emissions by about 1.5 million tons annually.

The Rawabi Water Desalination Company is the developer of a water desalination plant in Saudi Arabia that will use reverse-osmosis technology to process 600,000 cubic meters of seawater daily This project supports the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture in its plan to provide 92% of national urban supply through desalinated water by 2030. Standard Chartered was integral to closing the SAR2.5 billion (about $677 million) facility that financing the project, which will eventually be sold to the Saudi Water Partnership Company under a 25-year purchase agreement.           —AM

Closing Africa’s annual infrastructure-financing gap, estimated by the African Development Bank at between $130 billion and $170 billion, has become a daunting task. Governments are squeezed for resources, prompting private companies to venture into critical projects. By supplying financing to private companies, Absa Bank is facilitating the implementation of key projects that are critical to economic development. It aims to be at the forefront of the continent’s transition to a low-carbon, inclusive, and circular economy.

In South Africa, Absa is involved in the financing of the 150 MW Engie and 75 MW Ukuqala solar power projects. Both are critical to advancing the republic’s renewable-energy transition. The bank is also involved in an 8 billion rand (about $439 million) deal to enable data-services infrastructure provider Teraco to expand its reach, thus facilitating digital transformation throughout Southern Africa. Apart from participating directly in projects, the bank provides help through its global connections in the UK and the US and corridor approaches into China, India, and the Middle East, enabling global companies to tap opportunities in Africa’s infrastructure sector.      

—JN

Two notable REIT projects positioned ICBC as the region’s best infrastructure bank last year. First, ICBC coordinated the issuance of the ICBC Hebei Expressway REIT at 5.7 billion yuan (about $789 million). The landmark project—the first public REIT in Hebei Province—is part of the Rong-Wu Expressway, a critical component of the Xiong’an New Area’s highway network. The REIT supports Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development, serving as a crucial energy-transportation artery.

Second, ICBC represented Inner Mongolia’s first public infrastructure REITs, including coordinating the sale of the ICBC Mongolia Clean Energy REIT at 1.1 billion yuan. The innovative project covers two wind-power plants with approximately 150 MW total installed capacity, estimated to generate over 400 million kWh of green electricity annually and replacing over 120,000 tons of standard coal while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 300,000 tons. The new REIT supports the national strategy of developing Inner Mongolia as a key energy base, demonstrating ICBC’s commitment to green finance and regional development.          —LZ

As the war in Ukraine raged on for another year, securing and improving key infrastructure lines in Central and Eastern Europe became more than a matter of economic growth; it became essential for the region’s geopolitical security.

Against this backdrop, OTP Bank’s positioning in the region’s leading economies has made it a vital pipeline for sending resources dependably across borders.

With the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, OTP Bank’s Ukraine branch extended a new $220 billion, unfunded portfolio risk-sharing facility to assist with the country’s reconstruction amid the ongoing war. The partnership also probvided $33 billion to neighboring Moldova, where the funds will help assist the country’s agricultural pipelines and private sector. Based in Hungary, OTP also landed a partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to support renewable energy generation and improve energy efficiency in Croatia, Hungary, and Serbia.          —TM

With 27 infrastructure transactions raising a massive $500 million, the Brazilian behemoth Bradesco BBI takes home our award for the second consecutive year. Bradesco participated in several different types of offerings, leveraging versatility and unmatched market breadth to maintain leadership in the sector.

Among the bank’s main infrastructure deals, it served as the pre-auction adviser for the 2.2 billion reais (about $377 million) EcoRodovias concession for the Nova Raposo Lot Highway System, a project that aims to transform one of Brazil’s largest highways. The bank also arranged the a $1.3 billion reais in real long-term financing for Triangulo SPE, another one of the country’s major highway-network projects. In M&A, Bradesco arranged Equatorial Energia’s roughly $1.2 billion acquisition of 15% of state-owned water-and-sanitation company Sabesp, boosting the country’s water-distribution infrastructure. —TM

J.P. Morgan made significant strides in infrastructure finance in 2024, leading high-impact deals across renewable energy and telecommunications.

The firm capitalized on opportunities created by the US Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), investing $680 million in tax-equity financing for a portfolio of solar and storage assets in Texas and Arizona. The project, owned by Denmark’s Orsted, is one of the largest solar-and-storage tax-equity transactions to use a combined-production tax credit and investment tax credit structure created by the IRA. By year-end, Orsted’s US solar portfolio had reached 2 GW of power-generation capacity.

In the telecommunications sector, J.P. Morgan also arranged a $500 million term loan facility for Tillman Infrastructure, a leading wireless-communication infrastructure provider. The loan was part of a $1 billion financing package, with funds earmarked for refinancing existing loans and supporting growth initiatives to meet rising demand from wireless carriers and infrastructure-service providers.        —AN

Participating in roughly 20% of all infrastructure finance deals in 2024 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo leveraged its leading position and expertise beyond its home country, with a particular focus on the Spanish market.

In October, the firm partnered with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to create a portfolio of bank guarantees of up to €1 billion (about $1.1 billion) destined to support the creation of wind farms across the continent. The agreement, part of the EIB’s €5 billion plan to boost the sector, has the potential to unlock up to €8 billion in loans. Intesa Sanpaolo participated in 13 strategic projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors across the Spanish market, with a total value of around €27 billion over the past two years.          —TM