Infrastructure issuance trends differ markedly from corporate issuance trends in the capital markets. Corporate issuance increased in the period 2007 to 2009, and for the first time since these data began to be captured in 1995, bond issuance for corporate loans came close to outstripping corporate loans (see Figure 5).
Some pockets of infrastructure bond issuance-such as issuance to UK water utility companies-have continued strongly in 2008 and 2009 (see Figure 6). This trend seems to indicate that the capital markets remain an option for structured transactions, in which the investment proposition, the nature of return, and the risk-reward profile are understood by investors and
comparable to other similar investment opportunities. Why aren't other infrastructure bonds, particularly those in the PPP and concessions sector, not following a similar trend?