The Infra Dig podcast launches into the new year with the first episode serving as a reminder that “The Miami Conference” – IJ LatAm 2025 – is just around he corner and it’s shaping up to be the best one to date.   

Running from 10-12 March at 1 Hotel South Beach, Miami, IJ LatAm 2025 has been running for more than 2 decades and is IJGlobal’s premier event, attracting around 700 delegates from across the region.   

In preparation for this landmark event, IJGlobal has hosted a number of podcasts focused on the region and this latest one sees Nieves Polanco – project finance legal counsel at Sacyr – join IJ editorial director Angus Leslie Melville to talk about the market.   

As IJGlobal builds momentum towards “The Miami Conference” – IJ LatAm 2025 – the Infra Dig podcast turns its focus on equity engagement in infrastructure and energy across Latin America.  

IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville talks to Susana Lopez, an investment director at Climate Fund Managers (CFM), about the regional market.  

Susana – who will be speaking on a panel at IJ LatAm which runs from 10-12 March (2025) and is being staged at 1 Hotel South Beach, Miami – gives her view of the market in a far-reaching conversation.

Insurance has cropped up repeatedly in Infra Dig podcasts, to the point that we had to turn the focus this direction in the continuing quest to improve understanding across the infrastructure community.  

Martin Bennet – managing director for infrastructure and energy as well as private equity and M&A at Marsh – joins IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville to talk about the role played by insurance in the financing of infrastructure.  

This latest episode focuses on mitigating key infrastructure investment risks, the current state of the market, the use of insurance as an enabler of infra M&A, and much more.  

Looking beyond infra/energy for this latest episode of Infra Dig… into its second cousin (one sector removed) and investigating forestry as an investment.  

IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville mulls the ever-stretching definition of infrastructure and talks to William Barrett – managing partner of Reach Capital – about forestry… which looks set (one day) to be included in the infra asset class.  

William takes the listener through forestry as an investment sector, how it is evolving and whether one day it will feature more significantly in the pages of an established infrastructure publication like IJGlobal.  

As IJGlobal readies itself for the IJLatAm conference next March in Miami, the timing is perfect to focus on a fascinating green fertiliser project financing in Paraguay.  

IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville talks to Olivier Mussat – chief executive of ATOME – about a pathfinder project in a Core+ infrastructure sector that’s going to be Core in the blink of an eye.  

ATOME, with its Villeta Project in Paraguay, has set its stall at decarbonising the agriculture and food industries at the grass-roots level (pun intended) by creating green fertiliser.  

Tune in to this latest episode of Infra Dig – the IJGlobal podcast service – to learn all about a fascinating project that is sure to be replicated across the planet as the $200 billion fertiliser industry seeks to reduce its carbon impact.  

IJGlobal Editor Ila Patel talks to Michael Panetlogianis and Ralph Cho, the co-heads of Apterra, an infrastructure finance platform backed by New York-headquartered Apollo Asset Management. 

Launched in 2023, Apterra originates, structures and invests in infrastructure opportunities globally focusing on key sectors such as renewable energy, conventional power, midstream infrastructure, digital infrastructure and emerging technologies. 

Mike and Ralph discuss Apterra's growth strategy, global expansion and what makes them different from other infrastructure finance platforms.

Tune in to this latest episode of the IJGlobal podcast as these 2 industry veterans discuss positioning Apollo direct with sponsors to originate opportunities, deploy capital and generate AUM opportunity across the infrastructure vertical as well as across a wide breadth of products.

Returning to the Masterclass series of Infra Dig podcasts, this latest episode falls very much into the training and awareness category, delving into the impact that project finance can have on achieving peace and climate change goals.  

IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville talks to regular Masterclass guest Ravi Suri – global head of sustainable finance and impact investing at KPMG – for an enlightening podcast on the international impact of this financing mechanism.  

This podcast will be of greatest value to people in the early stages of their infrastructure / energy careers as they build knowledge, seeking to understand the full impact of the sector they have joined.  

Ravi takes the listener through the role that project finance is having across the globe in creating peaceful regimes, healing former war zones and the part it is playing on the international agenda to halt climate change.  

Here at IJGlobal we love to bring you podcasts on the most interesting developments on technology and innovation across the panoply of infrastructure assets classes – and this one’s a cracker.  

Well, to be fair, it’s not an actual “cracker”, this is an interview with Richard Butland, co-founder and chief executive of Highview Power, where we are discussing the UK’s first commercial-scale liquid air energy storage plant in Carrington, Manchester.  

Having this summer concluded the financing of its demonstrator in the north of England and with plans for another one in the UK progressing nicely, Highview has big plans… on an international level.  

Tune in for the latest Infra Dig podcast on an exciting energy storage innovation that's been a long time in the brewing, but is now going places.  

Another technology-based Infra Dig podcast – designed to foster greater understanding of the underlying assets that the infrastructure community invests in and lends to.  

This latest episode seen IJGlobal editorial director Angus Leslie Melville sit down for a fireside with Yash Tripathy – head of product at battery software company About:Energy.  

Conversation centres on battery technology with a primary focus on its deployment in electric vertical take-off and landing – eVTOL – flying machines.  

This is a sector that is ripe for investment and has an interesting future… and it’s one that IJ is keeping a close eye on as a future transport / delivery solution.  

Real assets are increasingly on the agenda for UK local government pension schemes, as they offer stable returns.   

Social infrastructure has been a rising investment focus due to impact it has on the local community and members of the scheme.   

Lisa Botter, Editor of IJInvestor (a service of IJGlobal, which is a Green Street company), speaks with Jack Burnham, head of affordable housing at Octopus Investments, which recently did a survey on the subject.  

In a survey of 27 LGPS, Octopus Investments and its research partner found that schemes are familiar with and are investing in a range of social infrastructure themes, but investment returns outweigh impact.   

Despite the interest from schemes, it is up to social infrastructure managers to prove their social and climate credentials to prevent greenwashing and so-called, social washing.