VanEck warns of private capital squeeze on ASX stocks

InvestorDaily

ETF provider VanEck has argued private capital is increasingly capturing some of the most sought-after public market assets, leaving retail investors with fewer avenues to access long-term, income-generating companies. In a recent note, VanEck head of investments & capital markets Jamie Hannah highlighted Australia’s shrinking pool of listed infrastructure companies, which he said have been snapped up by private capital. Over the past decade, a number of high-quality infrastructure companies have delisted from the ASX, including Sydney Airport, AusNet, Spark Infrastructure and Vocus.

“They were long-duration, cash-generative infrastructure businesses that attracted private capital because of the very characteristics public market investors also want, stable income, essential services and resilient demand,” Hannah said. He argued Atlas Arteria, the ASX-listed toll road operator with assets in France, Germany and the US, is now the “latest example”. The company has recently been in the spotlight after IFM Investors’ bid to acquire it, with reports suggesting the offer undervalues the business and is neither fair nor reasonable to shareholders, instead amounting to opportunistic buying after a share price pullback.

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