Australian investment bank Macquarie has raised €8 billion for a new infrastructure fund as a result of investor appetite for critical assets. The new fund is the largest infrastructure fund ever focused exclusively on Europe, according to the Financial Times.

”The gap between what infrastructure is planned and what is needed is still relatively large. At the same time, the ability of governments around the world to fund infrastructure is challenged, so there is a great need for the private sector in this area,” Adam Lygoe, head of institutional and international wealth distribution in Macquarie’s wealth management division, told the newspaper.

Macquarie manages a total of around €170 billion and has bought stakes in the UK’s gas supply and the Port of Newcastle in Scotland, among others. The company has also already made investments in data centers, parking lots and the utilities industry through the European Infrastructure Fund.

The fund aims to achieve a low double-digit internal rate of return. Investors in the fund are mainly pension funds and insurance companies, but also include sovereign wealth funds and smaller investment companies. According to Adam Lygoe, 92% of the investors in the new infrastructure fund have invested in Macquarie’s funds before, according to the Financial Times.

There has recently been a lot of interest in infrastructure, as evidenced by Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, acquiring investment group Global Infrastructure Partners for 12.5 billion dollars at the beginning of the year. General Atlantic acquired UK infrastructure investor Actis earlier in January.