It was discouraging to read Brett Christophers’ commentary on the impending acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners by BlackRock (“BlackRock bets governments will blink first on infrastructure”, Opinion, January 18) and the likelihood that governments will continue to connive at private equity’s gradual takeover of the world’s infrastructure.
As the FT’s review of Christophers’ book, Our Lives in Their Portfolios (Life & Arts, June 3, 2023), put it: “Safely cocooned [by public de-risking of investments through concessions, guarantees and other forms of protection], the managers then leverage the deal, put up prices, cut costs and trim services before opportunistically exiting. It’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem, damaging customers, employees and suppliers.”
Every time I pick up or drop someone off at Edinburgh airport (one of Global Infrastructure Partners’ portfolio investments) and pay the exit fee for my lightning visit, I remember the good old rentier-free days and feel the pain of our becoming beholden to private equity as the taxpayer-subsidised owners of so many of our physical assets.
Oliver Corlett
Glasgow, UK
