The gravy train couldn’t roll on forever. Once a darling of the stock market, listed infrastructure funds have fallen dramatically out of favour over the past year, haunted by the spectre of a hard-left Labour government and the collapse of Carillion.
The public mood has been shifting against private finance initiatives, seen as a one-way bet for developers of schools, roads and hospitals. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has seized on this discontent. Last September, he vowed to bring PFI contracts “back in-house” under a Labour government. His threat is hanging over FTSE 250 investment funds, including HICL Infrastructure and International Public Partnerships.
In recent weeks there has been a measure of respite for investors. Last month a consortium tabled a £1.45 billion takeover offer